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Folklore of the Santal Parganas /
3 1924 023 641 131
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Library
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023641131
FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
FOLKLORE OF THE
SANTAL PARGANAS
TRANSLATED BY
CECIL HENRY BOMPAS
OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE
London
DAVID NUTT
57-59 Long Acre
1909
PRINTED IN HOLLAND.
PREFACE
The Santals are a Munda tribe, a branch of that
aboriginal element which probably entered India from
the North East. At the present day they^ inhabit the
Eastern/ outskirts of the Chutia Nagpore plateau.
Originally hunters and dwellers in ihe jungle they are
still but indifferent agriculturists. Like the Mundas and
Hos and other representatives of the race, they are
jovial in character, fond of their rice beer, and ready
to take a joke.
' Their social organization is very complete ; each village
has its headman or manjhi, with his assistant the paranik ;
the jogmanghi is charged with the supervision of the
morals of the young men and women ; the naeke is
the village priest, the godet is the village constable.
Over a group of villages is the pargana or tribal chief.
The Santals are divided into exogamous septs — origin-
ally twelve in number, and their social observances are
complex, e. g. while some relations treat each other with
the greatest reserve, between others the utmost freedom
of intercourse is allowed.
Their religion is animistic, spirits [bongos) are every-
where around them : the spirits of their ancestors, the
spirit of the house, the spirit dwelling in the patch of
primeval forest preserved in each village. Every hill
tree and rock may have its spirit. These spirits are
propitiated by elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices which
generally terminate in dances, and the drinking of rice beer.
The Santal Parganas is a district 4800 sq. miles in
area, lying about 150 miles north of Calcutta, and was
6 PREFACE.
formed into a separate administration after the Santals
had risen in rebellion in 1856. The Santals at present
form about one-third of the population.
The stories and legends which are here translated
have been collected by the Rev. O. Bodding, D.D. of
the Scandinavian Mission to the Santals. To be per-
fectly sure that neither language nor ideas should in
any way be influenced by contact with a European mind
he arranged for most of them to be written out in Santali,
principally by a Christian convert named Sagram Murmu,
at present living at Mohulpahari in the Santal Parganas.
Santali is an agglutinative language of great regularity
and complexity but when the Santals come in contact
with races speaking an Aryan language it is apt to
become corrupted with foreign idioms. The language
in which these stories have been written is beautifully
pure, and the purity of language may be accepted as
an index that the ideas have not been affected, as is
often the case, by contact with Europeans.
My translation though somewhat condensed is very
literal, and the stories have perhaps thereby an added
interest as shewing the way in which a very primitive
people look at things. The Santals are great story tellers ;
the old folk of the village gather the young people round
them in the evening and tell them stories, and the men
when watching the crops on the threshing floor will often
sit up all night telling stories.
There is however, no doubt that at the present time
the knowledge of these stories tends to die out. Under
the peace which British rule brings there is more inter-
course between the diflferent communities and castes, a
considerable degree of assimilation takes place, and old
customs and traditions tend to be obliterated.
Several collections of Indian stories have been made,
e.g. Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales ; Frere, Old Deccan Days ;
Day, Folk Tales of Bengal; and Knowles' Folk Tales
PREFACE 7
of Kashmir, and it will be seen that all the stories in
the present collection are by no means of pure Santal
origin. Incidents which form part of the common stock
of Indian folklore abound, and many of the stories
professedly relate to characters of various Hindu castes,
others again deal with such essentially Santal beliefs as
the dealings of men and bongas.
The Rev. Dr. Campbell of Gobindpore published in
1 89 1 a collection of Santal Folk Tales. He gathered
his material in the District of Manbhum, and many of
the stories are identical with those included in the
present volume. I have added as an appendix some
stories which I collected among the Hos of Singhbhum,
a tribe closely related to the Santals, and which the Asiatic
Society of Bengal has kindly permitted me to reprint here.
My task has been merely one of translation; it is
due solely to Mr Bodding's influence with, and intimate
knowledge of, the people that the stories have been
committed to writing, and I have to thank him for assis-
tance and advice throughout my work of translation.
I have roughly classified the stories: in part i are
stories of a general character; part 2, stories relating to
animals; in part 3, stories which are scarcely folklore
but are anecdotes relating to Santal life ; in Part 4, stories
relating to the dealings of bongas and men. In part 5,
are some legends and traditions, and a few notes relating
to tribal customs. Part 6 contains illustrations of the
belief in witchcraft. I have had to omit a certain
number of stories as unsuited for publication.
C. H. BOMPAS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I
PAGE
I. BAJUN AND JHORE I7
II. ANUWA AND HIS MOTHER 20
III. LEDHA AND THE LEOPARD 22
IV. THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER 26
V. KARMU AND DHARMU 32
VI. THE JEALOUS STEPMOTHER 36
VII. THE PIOUS WOMAN 37
VIII. THE WISE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW 39
IX. THE OILMAN AND HIS SONS 40
X. THE GIRL WHO FOUND HELPERS 42
XI. HOW TO GROW RICH 46
XII. THE CHANGED CALF 49
XIII. THE KOERI AND THE BARBER 51
XIV. THE PRINCE WHO ACQUIRED WISDOM 53
XV. THE MONKEY BOY 56
XVI. THE miser's SERVANT 60
XVII. KUWAR AND THE RAJAHS DAUGHTER 63
XVIII. THE LAUGHING FISH 70
XIX. HOW THE COWHERD FOUND A BRIDE 74
XX. KARA AND GUJA 79
XXI. THE MAGIC COW 81
XXn. LITA AND HIS ANIMALS 88
XXIII. THE BOY WHO FOUND HIS FATHER 97
XXIV. THE oilman's BULLOCK 100
XXV. HOW SABAI GRASS GREW 102
XXVI. THE merchant's SON AND THE RAJAH'S
DAUGHTER I06
10 TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
XXVII. THE flycatcher's EGG HI
XXVIII. THE WIFE WHO WOULD NOT BE BEATEN 113
XXIX. SAHDE GOALA Il6
XXX. THE rajah's SON AND THE MERCHANT'S SON I23
XXXI. THE POOR WIDOW I27
XXXII. THE MONKEY AND THE GIRL I28
XXXIII. RAMAI AND THE ANIMALS I29
XXXIV. THE MAGIC BEDSTEAD I3I
XXXV. THE GHORMUHAS 132
XXXVI. THE BOY WHO LEARNT MAGIC I34
XXXVII. THE CHARITABLE JOGI I38
XXXVIII. CHOTE AND MOTE 139
XXXIX. THE DAYDREAMER I40
XL. THE EXTORTIONATE SENTRY I4I
XLI. THE BROKEN FRIENDSHIP I42
XLII. A STORY TOLD BY A HINDOO I44
XLIII. THE RAIBAR AND THE LEOPARD I47
XLIV. THE UNGRATEFUL SNAKE I49
XLV. THE tiger's BRIDE 154
XLVI. THE KILLING OF THE TIGER 155
XLVII. THE DREAM I57
XLVIII. THE KING OF THE BHUYANS I58
XLIX. THE FOOLISH SONS 160
L. KORA AND HIS SISTER 163
LI. A STORY ON CASTE 168
LII. TIPI AND TEPA I70
LIII. THE CHILD WITH THE EARS OF THE OX. ... I7I
LIV. THE CHILD WHO KNEW HIS FATHER I72
LV. JOGESHWAR'S MARRIAGE I73
LVI. THE STRONG MAN I76
LVII. THE rajah's ADVICE I78
LVIII. THE FOUR JOGIS l8l
LIX. THE CHARITABLE RAJAH 183
LX. A VARIANT. — THE WANDERING RAJA 185
LXI. THE TWO WIVES 187
LXII. SPANLING AND HIS UNCLES , , 189
TABLE OF CONTENTS
II
PAGE
LXIII. THE SILENT WIFE I9I
LXIV. THE DUMB SHEPHERD I92
LXV. THE GOOD DAUGHTER-IN-LAW I94
LXVI. THE rajah's DREAM I96
LXVII. THE MONGOOSE BOY 201
LXVIII. THE STOLEN TREASURE 2o6
LXIX. DUKHU AND HIS BONGA WIFE 2o8
LXX. THE MONKEY HUSBAND 212
LXXI. LAKHAN AND THE WILD BUFFALOES 2I4
LXXII. THE BOY WITH THE STAG 2I7
LXXIII. THE SEVEN BROTHERS AND THE BONGA GIRL. 2l8
LXXIV. THE tiger's FOSTER CHILD 226
LXXV. THE CATERPILLAR BOY 227
LXXVI. THE MONKEY NURSEMAID 232
LXXVII. THE WIFE WHO COULD NOT KEEP A SECRET. 235
LXXVIII. SIT AND LAKHAN 237
LXXIX. THE RAJAH WHO WENT TO HEAVEN 24O
LXXX. SEVEN TRICKS AND SINGLE TRICK 242
LXXXI. FULJHARI RAJAH 244
LXXXII. THE CORPSE OF THE RAJAH'S SON 247
LXXXIII. THE SHAM CHILD 248
LXXXIV. THE SONS OF THE KHEROHURI-RAJAH 25I
LXXXV. THE DOG BRIDE 254
LXXXVI. WEALTH OR WISDOM 256
LXXXVII. A GOALA AND THE COW 262
LXXXVIII. THE TELLTALE WIFE 266
LXXXIX. THE BRIDEGROOM WHO SPOKE IN RIDDLES.. 268
XC. THE LAZY MAN 271
XCI. ANOTHER LAZY MAN 274
XCII. THE widow's SON 276
XCIII. THE BOY WHO WAS CHANGED INTO A DOG. . . 281
XCIV. BIRLURI AND BIRBANTA 284
XCV. THE KILLING OF THE RAKHAS 286
XCVI. THE CHILDREN OF THE VULTURES 289
XCVII. THE FERRYMAN 292
XCVIII. CATCHING A THIEF 294
12
XCIX.
C.
CI.
CII.
cm.
CIV.
cv.
cvi.
CVII.
CVIII.
CIX.
ex.
CXI.
CXII.
CXIII.
CXIV.
CXV.
CXVI.
CXVII.
CXVIII.
CXIX.
cxx.
CXXI.
CXXII.
CXXIII.
CXXIV.
CXXV.
CXXVI.
CXXVII.
CXXVIII.
CXXIX.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
THE GRASPING RAJAH ^95
THE PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT MARRY 298
THE PRINCE WHO FOUND TWO WIVES 300
THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE 303
THE INDUSTRIOUS BRIDE 305
THE BOY AND HIS FATE 307
THE MESSENGERS OF DEATH 3O9
THE SPEAKING CRAB 3"
THE LEOPARD OUTWITTED 312
THE WIND AND THE SUN 314
THE COLDEST SEASON 314
PART II
THE JACKAL AND THE CROW 3I9
THE TIGER CUB AND THE CALF 320
THE JACKAL AND THE CHICKENS 322
THE JACKAL PUNISHED 325
THE TIGERS AND THE CAT 327
THE ELEPHANTS AND THE ANTS 328
A FOX AND HIS WIFE 329
THE JACKAL AND THE CROCODILES 33I
THE BULLFROG AND THE CRAB 334
THE HYENA OUTWITTED 335
THE CROW AND THE EGRET 336
THE JACKAL AND THE HARE 338
THE BRAVE JACKAL 339
THE JACKAL AND THE LEOPARDS 34O
PART III
THE FOOL AND HIS DINNER 345
THE STINGY DAUGHTER 345
THE BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS DANCE 346
THE DEAF FAMILY 347
THE FATHER-IN-LAW'S VISIT 349
RAMAI AND SOMAI 350
TABLE OF CONTENTS 13
PAGE
CXXX. THE TWO BROTHERS 35I
CXXXI. THE THREE FOOLS 352
CXXXII. THE CURE FOR LAZINESS 354
CXXXIII. THE brahmin's POWERS 356
cxxxiv. ram's wife 356
CXXXV. PALO 357
CXXXVI. THE women's SACRIFICE 359
CXXXVII. THE thief's SON 361
CXXXVIII. THE DIVORCE 363
CXXXIX. THE FATHER AND THE FATHER-IN-LAW 364
CXL. THE REPROOF 367
CXLI. enigmas 368
CXLII. THE TOO PARTICULAR WIFE 369
CXLIII. THE PAHARIA SOCIALISTS 370
CXLIV. HOW A TIGER WAS KILLED 37O
CXLV. THE GOALA'S DAUGHTER 37I
CXLVI. THE brahmin's CLOTHES 372
CXLVII. THE winning OF THE BRIDE 373
PART IV
CXLVIII. MARRIAGE WITH BONGAS 377
CXLIX. THE BONGA HEAVEN 379
CL. LAKHAN AND THE BONGA 380
CLI. THE HOUSE BONGA 380
CLII. THE SARSAGUN-MAIDEN 382
CLIII. THE SCHOOLBOY AND THE BONGA 384
CLIV. THE BONGA'S CAVE 386
CLV. THE BONGA's VICTIM 388
CLVI. BAIJAL AND THE BONGA 391
CLVII. RAMAI AND THE BONGA 393
CLVIII. THE BOUNDARY BONGA 395
CLIX. THE BONGA EXORCISED 396
PART V
CLX. THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 40I
CLXI. CHANDO AND HIS WIFE 404
14 TABLE OF CONTENTS
fAOB
CLXII. THE SIKHAR RAJAH 405
CLXIII. THE ORIGIN OF TOBACCO 407
CLXIV. THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS 407
CLXV. THE NEXT WORLD 4^0
CLXVI. AFTER DEATH 41^
CLXVII. HARES AND MEN 4^2
CLXVIII. A LEGEND 4^3
CLXIX. PREGNANT WOMEN 4^4
CLXX. THE INFLUENCE OF THE MOON 415
CLXXI. ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN 416
CLXXII. THE DEAD 416
CLXXIII. A HUNTING CUSTOM 417
PART VI
CLXXIV. WITCHCRAFT 42I
CLXXV. OF DAINS AND OJHAS 422
CLXXVI. INITIATION INTO WITCHCRAFT 423
CLXXVII. WITCH CRAFT 426
CLXXVIII. WITCH STORIES 427
CLXXIX. WITCH STORIES 429
CLXXX. WITCH STORIES 43I
CLXXXI. THE TWO WITCHES 432
CLXXXII. THE SISTER-IN-LAW WHO WAS A WITCH . . . 433
CLXXXIII. RAMJIT BONGA 438
CLXXXIV. THE HERD BOY AND THE WITCHES 44O
CLXXXV. THE MAN-TIGER 442
GLOSSARY 445
APPENDIX
FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN 45I
PART I.
In these stories there are many incidents which appear
in stories collected in other parts of India, though it is
rather surprising that so few of them appear elsewhere
in their entirety. We have however, instances of the
husk myth, the youngest son who surpasses his brother,
the life of the ogre placed in some external object, the
jealous stepmother, the selection of a king by an elephant,
the queen whose husband is invariably killed on his
wedding night, etc. etc.
Few of the old Indian stories found in the Katha
Sarit Sagara or the Buddhist Birth stories appear in
recognizable form in the present collection.
I. BAJUN AND JHORE. ?
Once upon a time there were two brothers named Bajuo
and Jhore. Bajun was married and one day his wife fell
ill of fever. So, as he was going ploughing, Bajun told
Jhore to stay at home and cook the dinner and he
bade him put into the pot three measures of rice. Jhore
stayed at home and filled the pot with water and put
it on to boil ; then he went to look for rice measures ;
there was only one in the house and Jhore thought
" My brother told me to put in three measures and if I
only put in one I shall get into trouble." So he went
to |a neighbour's house and borrowed two more measures,
and put them into the pot and left them to boil. At
noon Bajun came back from ploughing and found Jhore
stirring the pot and asked him whether the rice was
ready, Jhore made no answer, so Bajun took the spoon
from him, saying "Let me feel how it is getting on",
but when he stirred with the spoon he heard a rattling
noise and when he looked into the pot he found no
rice but only three wooden measures floating about;
then he turned and abused Jhore for his folly, but Jhore
said "You yourself told me to put in three measures
and I have dpne so." So Bajun had to set to work and
cook the rice himself and got his dinner very late.
Next day Bajun said to Jhore, "You don't know how
to cook the dinner ; I will stay at home to-day, you go to
plough, and take a hatchet with you and if the plough
catches in a root or anything, give a cut with the hatchet."
So Jliore went ploughing and when the plough caught
in anything and stopped, he gave a cut with his hatchet
i8 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
at the legs of the bullocks; they backed and plunged
with the pain and then he only chopped at them the
more until he lamed them both. At noon Bajun saw
the bullocks come limping back and asked what was
the matter with them. " O," said Jhore, "that is because
I cut at them as you told me." "You idiot," said
Bajun, " I meant you to give a cut at the roots in which
the plough got caught, not at the legs of the bullocks ;
how will you live if you do such silly things? You
cannot plough, you must stay at home and cook the
rice. I will show you this evening how it is done."
So after that Jhore stayed at home and cooked. Bajun's
wife grew no better, so one day Bajun, before he
went to the fields, told Jhore to warm some water
in order that his wife might wash with it. But Jhore
made the water boiling hot and then took it and began
to pour it over his sister-in-law as she lay on her bed ;
she was scalded and shrieked out "Don't pour it over
me," but Jhore only laughed and went on pouring until
he had scalded her to death. Then he wrapped her up
in a cloth and brought her dinner to her and offered
it her to eat, but she was dead and made no answer
to him, so he left it by her and went and ate his own
rice. When Bajun came back and found his wife scalded
to death he was very angry and went to get an axe
to kill Jhore with; thereupon Jhore ran away into the
jungle and Bajun pursued him with the axe.
In the jungle Jhore found a dead sheep and he took
out its stomach and called out " Where are you, brother,
I have found some meat." But Bajun answered, "I will
not leave you till I have killed you." So Jhore ran on
and climbed up inside a hollow tree, where Bajun could
not follow. Bajun got a long stick and poked at him
with it and as he poked, Jhore let fall the sheep's
stomach, and when Bajun saw it he concluded that he
bad killed his brother. So he went home and burned
BAJUN AND JHORE 19
the body of his wife and a few days later he performed
the funeral ceremonies to the memory of his wife and
brother; he smeared the floor of the house with cow-
dung and sacrificed goats and fowls. Now Jhore had
come back that day and climbed up on to the rafters
of the house, and he sat there watching all that his
brother did. Bajun cooked a great basket of rice and
stewed the flesh of the animals he had sacrified and
offered it to the spirits of the dead and he recited the
dedication "My wife I ofier this rice, this food, for
your purification," and so saying he scattered some rice
on the ground; and he also offered to Jhore, saying,
"Jhore, my brother, I offer this rice, this food, for
your purification," and then Jhore called out from the
roof "Well, as. you offer it to me I will take it."
Bajun had not bargained to get any answer, so he was
astounded and went to ask the villagers whether their
spirits made answer when sacrificed to: and the vil-
lagers told him that they had never heard of such a
thing. While Bajun was away on this errand, Jhore
took up the unguarded basket of rice and ran away
with it ; after going some way he sat down by the road
and ate as much as he wanted, then he sat and called
out "Is there anyone on the road or in the jungle
who wants a feast?" A gang of thieves who were on
a thieving expedition heard him and went to see what
he meant; he offered to let them eat the rice if they
would admit him to their company; they agreed and
he went on with them to steal; they broke into a
rich man's house and the thieves began to collect the
pots and pans but Jhore felt about in the dark and got
hold of a drum and began to beat on it. This woke up
the people of the house and they drove away the
thieves. Then the thieves abused Jhore and said that
they could not let him stay with them: "Very well",
said he, "then give me back the rice you ate." Of
20 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
course they could not dp this. So they had to let him
stay with them. Then they went to the house of a
rich Hindu who had a stable full of horses and they
planned to steal the horses and ride away with them;
so each thief picked out a horse, but Jhore got hold of
a tiger which had come to the back of the stable to
kill one of the horses ; and when the thieves mounted
their horses, Jhore mounted on the tiger, and the tiger
ran off with him towards the jungle. Jhore kept on
calling out "Keep to the road, you Hindu horse, keep
to the road, you Hindu horse." But it dragged him
through the briars and bushes till he was dead and that
was the end of Jhore.
n. ANUWA AND HIS MOTHER.
Once there was a young fellow named Anuwa who
lived with his old mother, and when he was out ploughing
his mother used to take him his breakfast. One day a
jackal met her on her way to the field with her son's
breakfast and told her to put down the food which she
was carrying or he would knock her down and bite her ;
so she put it down in a fright and the jackal ate most
of it and then went away and the old woman took what
was left to her son and told him nothing about what
had happened: This happened several days in succession ;
at last one day Anuwa asked her why she brought so
little rice and that so untidily arranged; so she told
him how she was attacked every day by the jackal.
Then they made a plan that the next day the mother
should take the plough afield, while Anuwa should dress
up as an old woman and carry the breakfast. This they
did and the jackal met Anuwa as usual and made him
put down the breakfast basket, but while the jackal
was eating, Anuwa knocked him head over heels with
his stick; and the jackal got up and fled, threatening
ANUWA AND HIS MOTHER 21
and cursing Anuwa. Among other things the jackal as
he ran away, had threatened to eat Anuwa's malhan
plants, so Anuwa put a fence of thorns round them and
when the jackal came at night and tried to eat the pods
he only got his nose pricked.
Foiled in this the jackal called out "Well, I will eat
your fowls to-morrow;" but Anuwa the next night sat
by the fowl house with a sickle and when the jackal
came and poked in his head, Anuwa gave him a rap
on the snout with the sickle, so the jackal made off
crying "Well, Anuwa, your fowls have pecked me on
the head, you shall die." So the next day Anuwa
pretended to be dead and his mother went about crying ;
she took her way to the jungle and there she met the jackal
and she told him that Anuwa had died in consequence
of his curse and she invited him to the funeral feast,
saying that he used to eat the rice which she had
cooked and he had become like a son to her. The
jackal gladly promised to attend, and he collected a
number of his friends and at evening they went to Anuwa's
house and sat down in the courtyard. Then the old
woman came out and began to bewail her son : but the
jackal said "Stop crying, grannie, you cannot get back
the dead : let us get on to the feast. " So she said that
she would fry some cakes first, as it would take some
time before the rice was ready. The jackals approved
of this but they asked her to tie them up with a rope
first lest they should get to fighting over the food, so
the old woman brought a thick rope and tied them all
up and tightest of all she tied up the jackal which had
cursed Anuwa ; then she went inside and put an iron
pan on the fire and from time to time she sprinkled
water on it and when the jackals heard the water hissing
they thought that it was the cakes frying and jumped
about with joy. Suddenly Anuwa came out with a thick
stick and set to beating the jackals till they bit through
22 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the ropes and rah away howling; but the first jackal
was tied so tightly that he could not escape, and Anuwa
beat him till he was senseless and lay without moving
all night. The next morning Anuwa took the jackal and
tied him to a stake near the place where the village
women drew water and he put a thick stick beside it
and every woman who went for water would give the
jackal one blow with the stick. After a few days beating
the body of the jackal became all swollen and one
night some other jackals came there and asked him
what he ate that he had got so fat and he said that
every one who came to draw water gave him a handful
of rice and that was why he was so fat; and if they
did not believe him they could take his place and try
for themselves.
So one jackal agreed to try and untied the first jackal
and let himself be tied in his place, but in the morning
five women came down and each gave him a blow with
the stick till he jumped about for pain, and seeing him
jumping other women came and beat him till he died.
in. LEDHA AND THE LEOPARD.
Once upon a time a boy named Ledha was tending
cattle with other boys at the foot of a hill, and these
boys in fun used to call out "Ho, leopard: Ho, leopard,"
and the echo used to answer from the hill "Ho, leopard."
Now there really was a leopard who lived in the hill
and one day he was playing hide and seek with a lizard
which also lived there. The lizard hid and the leopard
looked every where for it in vain. At last the leopard
sat down to rest and it chanced that he sat right on
top of the lizard which was hiding in a hole. The
lizard thought that the leopard meant to hurt it and
in revenge bit him and fastened on to his rump so that
LEDHA AND THE LEOPARD 23
he could not get it off, so that day when the boys
came calling out "Ho, leopard," he ran towards them
to get their help: but when they saw the leopard they
all fled for their lives. Ledha however could not run
fast because he was lame, and the leopard headed him
off and begged him to remove the lizard. This he did
after the leopard had sworn not to eat him, and before
they parted the leopard made him promise to tell no
one that the lizard had bitten him, and said that if he
told then he would be carried off and eaten. So Ledha
rejoined his companions and told them nothing of what
had passed between him and the leopard. But that
night when they had all gone t© bed, Ledha's sister-in-
law began to worry him to tell her what the leopard
had said to him, when it had caught him. He told her
that the leopard would eat him if he told, but she
coaxed him and said that no one could hear them
inside the house; so at last he told her that he had
taken off a lizard which was hanging on to its rump.
Then they went to sleep; but the leopard was hiding
at the back of the house and heard all that they said ;
and when they were all asleep, he crept in and carried
off Ledha's bed with Ledha in it on his head. When
Ledha woke up towards morning, he found himself being
carried through dense jungle and he quietly pulled
himself up into one of the trees which overhung the
path. Thus when the leopard put down the bed and
was going to eat Ledha, he found it empty. So he
went back on his track and by and bye came to the
tree in which Ledha was hiding. The leopard begged
Ledha to come down^ as he had something to say to
him, and promised not to eat him ; but directly Ledha
reached the ground the leopard said " Now I am going
to eat you." Ledha was powerless, so he only asked
tp be allowed to have one chew of tobacco before he
died; the leopard assented and Ledha felt in his cloth
24 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
for his tobacco, but the tobacco did not come out
easily and as Ledha felt about for it the dry tobacco
leaves crackled; the leopard asked what the crackling
sound was, and Ledha said "That is the lizard which
bit you yesterday;" then the leopard got into a terrible
fright and ran away as hard as he could, calling out
"Don't let it loose: Don't let it loose."
So Ledha was saved from the leopard, but he did not
know his way out of the jungle. He wandered about,
till he came to the place where the wild buffaloes used to
sleep at night, and he swept up the place and made it
clean and then took refuge in a hollow tree ; he stayed
there some days, sweeping up the place daily and
supporting himself on the fruit of a fig-tree. At last
one day the buffaloes left one cow behind to watch and
see who it was who swept up their sleeping place.
The cow pretended to be too ill to rise, and Ledha
after watching for some time came out and swept the
ground as usual, and then tried to pull the sick cow up
by the tail; but she would not move so he went back
to his hollow tree. When the buffaloes returned they
heard that it was a kindhearted man who cleaned their
sleeping place; so they called Ledha out and said that
they would keep him as their servant to clean their
sleeping place and to scrub them when they bathed in
the river ; they made him taste the milk of all the
cows and appointed the cow whose milk he liked best
to supply him. Thenceforward he used to wander about
with the buffaloes and he made a flute and used to
play on it.
One day after scrubbing the buffaloes he washed his
head in the river and some of his hairs came out; so
he wrapped them up in a leaf and set the packet to
float down the stream. Lower down the stream two
princesses were bathing with their attendants, and when
they saw the packet they tried who could fish it out
LEDHA AND THE LEOPARD 25
and it was the younger princess who caught it. Then
they measured the hairs and found them twelve cubits
long. The princess who had taken the packet from
the water went home and took to her bed and said
that she would not eat until the man was found to
whom the hairs belonged. Her father, the Raja, sent
messengers in all directions to search for the man
but they could not find him. Then he sent a parrot
and the parrot flew up high and looking down saw
Ledha with the buffaloes in the forest ; but it did not
dare to go near, so the parrot returned and told the
Raja that the man was in the forest but that no
messenger could approach for fear of the wild buffaloes.
However a crow said, "I can bring him if any one
can," so they sent the crow and it went and perched
on the backs of the buffaloes and began to peck them ;
then Ledha threw stones at it, but it would not go
away; then- he threw a stick at it and last of all he
threw his flute. The crow caught up the flute and flew
up to a tree with it. Ledha ran after it, but the crow
kept flying on a short distance and Ledha still pursued
until he came to the Raja's city. The crow flew on till
it entered the room where the princess lay, and dropped
the flute into the hands of the princess. Ledha followed
right into the room and they shut him in and the princess
gave him his flute after he had promised to marry her.
So he stayed there a long time, but meanwhile the
buffaloes all got weak and ill for want of some one to
look after them. One day Ledha set off to the jungle
with his wife to see them and when he saw how ill
the buffaloes were, he decided to build a house in the
jungle and live there. And the Raja sent thtm money
and horses and cattle and elephants and servants and
they built a .palace and Ledha subdued all the jungle and
became a great Raja; and he made a highway to his
father-in-law's home and used to go to and fro on it.
86 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
IV. THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER.
There was once a Raja whose wife died leaving him
with one young child. He reared it with great care
and when it could toddle about it took a great fancy
to a cat; the child was always playing with it and
carrying it about.
All his friends begged the Raja to marry again, but
he said that he was sure that a stepmother would be
cruel to his child; at last they persuaded him to promise
to marry again, if a bride could be found who would
promise to care for the child as her own, so his friends
looked out for a bride; but though they found plenty
of girls who were anxious to marry the Raja, not one
would promise to care for his child as her own. There
was a young widow in a certain village who heard of
what was going on, and one day she asked whether a
bride had been found for the Raja and she was told
that no one was willing to take charge of the child.
"Why don't they agree," said she, "I would agree fast
enough. If I were Rani I should have nothing to do
but look after the child and I would care for it more
than its own mother could." This came to the ears of
the Raja and he sent for the widow and was pleased
with her looks, and when she promised to love his child
as her own, he married her.
At first no one could be kinder to the child than she
was, but in the course of time she had a child of her
own and then she began to be jealous of the elder
child; and she thought daily how she could get rid of
him. He was still devoted to his cat and one day when
he came back to the house, he asked his stepmother
where the cat was. She answered angrily, "The cat
has bewitched the boy! It is "cat, cat," all day long."
At this the child began to cry; so she found the cat
THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER 27
and threw it to him, saying, "Here is your cat: you
are mad about your cat." But the boy hugged it in
his arms and kept on crying at his stepmother's cross
words. As he would not keep quiet his stepmother got
more angry still; and catching hold of the cat she
scratched her own arms and legs with the cat's claws
until the blood flowed ; then she began to cry and scold
and when the neighbours came to see what was the
matter, she told them that the boy had let his cat
scratch h^r; and the neighbours saw that she was not
loving the boy as she promised.
Presently the Raja came in and asked what was the
matter ; she turned and scolded him saying : " You have
reared the accursed cat and it has scratched me finely ;
look, it has taken all the skin off; this is the way the
boy repays me for all my trouble. I will not stay with
you ; if I stay the boy will injure me like this again."
The Raja said, " Don't cry like a baby ; how can a simple
child like that know better ? when he grows up I will scold
him." But the woman persisted and declared that she
would go away with her own child unless the Raja
promised to kill his elder son. The Raja refused to do
this, so the Rani took up her baby and went out of the
house with it in a rage. Now the Raja was deeply in
love with her and he followed and stopped her, and said
that he could not let her take away his younger child ;
she answered, "Why trouble about the child? it is
mine ; I have left you your boy, if you don't kill him,
when he grows up, he will tell you some lie about me
and make you have me beaten to death." At last the
Raja said " Well, come back and if the boy does you
any harm I will kill him." But the Rani said. "Either
kill him now or let me go." 3o at last the Raja promised
and brought her back to the palace. Then the Raja
called the boy and gave him his dinner and told him
that they were going on a visit to his uncle's: and the
28 folklore; of the santal parganas
child was delighted and fetched his shoes and umbrella,
and off they set, and a dog came running after them.
When they came to a jungle the Raja told his son to
sit under a tree and wait for him, and he went away
and killed the dog that had followed them and smeared
the blood on his axe and went home, leaving the child.
When his father did not return, the child began to
cry, and Thakur heard him and came down, and to
frighten the boy and make him leave the jungle he came
in the guise of a leopard ; but the child would not move
from where he was; then Thakur appeared as a bear,
and as a snake and an elephant and in many other
forms but the child would not move ; so at last Thakur
took the form of an old woman, who lifted him in her
arms and soothed him and carried him to the edge of
the jungle and left him on the outskirts of a village.
In the morning a rich Brahman found him and took
him home, and as no one claimed the child he brought
him up and made him his goat-herd, and they gave
him the name of Lela. The Brahman's sons and
daughters used to go school, and before he took his
goats out to graze Lela used to carry their books to
the school. And going to the school every day Lela
got to know one or two letters and used to draw them
in the sand while minding his goats; later he got the
children to give him an old book saying that he wanted
to pretend to the other boys that he could read and
out of this book he taught himself to read : and as he
grew up he became quite a scholar. One day he
picked up a letter and found that it was from one of the
village girls arranging to elope that very evening with
a young man. At the appointed time Lela went to the
rendez-vbus and hid himself in a tree ; soon he saw the
Brahman's daughter come to the place, but as her letter
had not been delivered her lover did not appear. The
girt got tired of waiting and then she began to call to
THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER 29
her lover, thinking that perhaps he was hiding for a joke.
When she called, LeJa answered from the tree and she
thought that it was her lover and said "Come down and
let us be off." So Lela came down and they started off
together; when day dawned she saw that it was Lela
who: was with her and she sat down and upbraided him
for deceiving her. Lela said that they had met by
chance ; he h!^<^ not enticed her away, no harm had
been done and she could go home if she liked or come
away with him if she liked. The girl considered but
she saw that if she went home now she would be
disgraced and her family would be outcasted, so in the
end she agreed to run away with Lela.
They went on and after travelling some days they
came to a greal; city, where they took up their quarters
in a tumble-down house and the next morning Lela went
into the city to look for work. He went to the cutcherry
and enrolled himself as a ntukUar (attorney) and soon
the litigants and the magistrates found out how clever
he was and he acquired a big practice. Qne day the
Raja said, "This fellow is very handsome, I wonder
what his wife is like?" And he sent an old woman
to see; so the old woman went and got into conver-
sation with- Lela's wife and returned to the Raja and
told him that none of his wives was so beautiful as
Lela's wife; so the Raja determined to go and see her
himself, and as the old woman said that she would
hide herself in the house if she saw the Raja coming,
he disguised himself as a" poor man and went and saw
her; he found that the old woman had not exaggerated
and he determined to possess himself of Lela's wife.
He had first to get Lela out of the way, so he sent
for him and said, "You are a fine fellow and have
given me satisfaction. I have one more commission for
you, if you perform it I will give you half my kingdom
and my sister in marriage." Lela said that he must
30 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
hear what it was before he made any promise. The
Raja said "It is this: in a certain mountain grows the
Chandmoni Kusum flower; bring it to me and I will
give you what I have promised:" — but the Raja felt
sure that if Lela went to the mountain he would be
eaten by the Rakhas (ogress) who dwelt there. Lela
said that he would go if the Raja gave him a written
bond in the presence of witnesses; and this the Raja
willingly did. Then Lela went and told his wife and
she said, "This is excellent: I have a younger sister
in the mountain, her name is Chandmoni and it was
she who planted the Chandmoni Kusum flower; when
you get there call her by her name and she will certainly
give you the flower."
So Lela started off and when he was gone his wife
fell ill, and her body became a mass of sores. Directly
Lela was out of the way, the Raja sent the old woman
to see what his wife was doing and she brought back
word that she was afflicted with illness; so the Raja
sent medicines and told the old woman to nurse her.
Lela went off and came to the cave in the mountain
where Chandmoni lived with the Rakhas ; and the Rakhas
was away hunting men, so Lela called out Chandmoni
and told her who he was and begged her to hide him ;
then they planned how they should kill the Rakhas, and
she hid him in the cave; presently the Rakhas returned
and said to Chandmoni "I smell a man: where is he}"
But Chandmoni said that there was no one there but
herself; and that the smell was probably due to the
Rakhas having been eating human flesh and recom-
mended her to anoint herself with hot ghee. The
Rakhas agreed: so Chandmoni put a great iron pan of
ghee on to boil, and when it was boiling she called
the Rakhas, and as the Rakhas was leaning over the
pan, Lela ran out and pushed her into the boiling
ghee and she died. Then Chandmoni asked Lela
THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER 31
why he had come, and he told her, "to fetch the
flower." She promised to give it to him but asked
what was to become of her now that the ogress
with whom she lived was dead. Lela promised to take
her with him, so they cut ofif the tongue and ears
and claws of the Rakhas and returned to the city.
And directly Lela returned, his first wife recovered
from her illness.
Then the Raja saw that it was useless to contend
with Lela, and he gave him half his kingdom and mar-
ried him to his sister according to his bond. So Lela
lived with his three Ranis and they bore him children
and after some years he told them that he was the son
of a Raja and he wished to visit his own country and
see whether his father was alive. So they set out in
great style with horses and elephants and came to the
town where Lela's father lived. Now five or six days after
abandoning Lela, his father had become blind and he
made over the management of his kingdom to a Dewan,
and the Dewan and the Rani managed everything.
When the Dewan heard that Lela had come with a
great force he thought that he would loot the country
and he ran away in fear. Then Lela sent word to his
father to come to him, as he was the son who had been
abandoned in the jungle, so the Raja set forth joyfully
and after he had gone a few paces he began to see
dimly, and by the time that he came to Lela's camp
he had quite recovered his eyesight. When they met,
father and son embraced and wept over each other;
and Lela ordered a feast to be prepared and while
this was being done a maidservant came running to
say that the wicked Rani had hanged herself, so they
went and burned the body and then returned and
enjoyed the feast. Then the Raja resigned his kingdom
to Lela and the ryots begged him to stay and rule over
them ; so he remained there and lived happily ever after.
32 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARC AN AS
V. KARMU AND DHARMU.
There were once two brothers Karmu and Dharmu.
Karmu was a farmer and Dharmu was a trader; once
when Dharmu was away from home Karmu gave a
religious feast and did not invite Dharmu's household;
when Dharmu returned and learnt this, he told his wife
that he also would perform the ceremonies in his house,
so they set to work and were employed in cooking rice
and vegetables far into the night,; and Karam Gosain
came down to see what preparations Dharmu was making
in his honour, and he watched from the back of the
house.
Just then Dharmu strained off the water from the
cooked rice and threw it out of the window, and it
fell on Karam Gosain and scalded him, and as the flies
and insects worried the wound, Karam Gosain went off
to the Ganges and buried himself in the middle of the
stream. As he had thus offended Karam Gosain, all
Dharmu's undertakings failed and he fell into deep
poverty, and had not even enough to eat, so he had
to take service with his brother Karmu. When the time
for transplanting the rice came, Dharmu used to plough
and dig the ditches and mend the gaps along with the
day labourers. Karmu told him not to work himself but
act as overseer of the other labourers, and the labourers
also told him that it was not suitable for him to work
as a labourer himself, but Dharmu said that he must
earn his wages and insisted on working; and in the
same way Dharpiu's wife might have acted as overseer
of the women, but she was ashamed not to work too.
One day they were transplanting the rice and Karmu
brought out breakfast for the labourers ; he told Dharmu
and his wife to wash their hands and come and eat;
but they answered that they belonged to the household
KARMU AND DHARMU 33
and that the hired labourers should be fed first, so the
labourers ate and they ate up all the rice and there
was nothing left for Dharmu and his wife. When the
midday meal was brought the same thing happened,
Dharmu and his wife got nothing ; but they hoped that
it would be made up to them when the wages were
paid, and worked on fasting. At evening when they came
to pay the wages in kind, Dharmu's name was called
out first, but he told his brother to pay the labourers
first, and in doing this the paddy was all used up and
there was nothing left for Dharmu and his wife; so
they went home sorrowfully and their children cried for
food and they had nothing to give them. In the night
Dharmu's wife said "They promised to pay us for
merely looking after the work and instead, we worked
hard and have still got nothing. We will not work for
them anymore; come, let us undo the work we did
to-day, you cut down the embankments you repaired,
and I will uproot the seedlings which I planted." So
they went out into the night to do this. But whenever
Dharmu raised his spade a voice called out "Hold,
hold I" And whenever his wife put out her hand to
pull up the rice a voice called out "Hold, hold 1" Then
they said "Who are you who stop us?" And the voice
answered "You have done evil and offended Karam
Gosain by scalding him; this is why you have become
poor and to-day have worked without food and without
wages; he has gone to the Ganges and you must go
and propitiate him." And they asked how they should
propitiate him, and the voice said "Grind turmeric and
put it on a plate, and buy. new cloth and dye it with
turmeric and make ready oil and take these things to
the Ganges and call on Karam Gosain." And they
believed the voice and the next day did as it commanded,
and set off, leaving their children in charge of Karmu.
On the way they came to a fig-tree full of figs and they
3
34 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
went to eat the fruit; but when they got near they
found that all the figs were full of grubs, and they sang : —
"Exhausted by hunger we came to a fig-tree,
And found it full of grubs,
O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"
Then they came to a mango tree and the same thing
happened. And they went on and saw a cow with a
calf; and they thought that they would milk the cow
and drink the milk, but when they went to catch it it
ran away from them and would not let itself be caught ;
and they sang : —
"We go to catch the cow and it runs away,
We go to catch the calf and it runs away,
O Karam Gosain how far off are you?"
But the cow said to them — "Go to the banks of
the Ganges." Then they came to a buffalo and went
to milk it, but it lowered its head and charged them ;
and Dharmu cried but his wife said "Don't cry" and
sang : —
" If you go to catch the buffalo, Dharmu,
It will kill you.
How shall we drink milk? How shall we drink milk?"
How far off are you, O our Karam Gosain?"
And the buffalo said " Go on to the bank of the
Ganges." Then they came to a horse and they thought
that they would catch it and mount it, but it kicked
and snorted; and they sang: —
"Dharmu tries to catch the horse:
But it kicks and runs away.
How shall we reach the Ganges?
O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"
And the horse said " Go to the banks of the Ganges."
Then they saw an elephant but it would not let them
approach, so they decided to push on straight for the
KARMU AND DHARMU 35
river; and they saw under a banyan tree a large pot
full of rupees, but they were so disheartened that they
made no attempt to touch it; then they met a woman
who asked where they were going and when she heard,
she said " For twelve years I have had a pai measure
stuck on my throat; ask Karam Gosain for me how I
am to get rid of it," and they promised; and going
on they met a woman with a bundle of thatching grass
stuck to her head; and she made them promise to ask
Karam Gosain how she could be freed; then they met
a woman with both her feet burning in a fire and
another with a stool stuck fast to her back and they
promised to enquire how these might be delivered.
So at last they came to the Ganges and they stood
on the bank and called to Karam Gosain; and when
he came they caught hold of him and he said "Fie,
what low caste person is touching me?" But they said.
"It is no low caste person, but Dharmu." Then they
bathed him and anointed him with oil and turmeric and
wrapped him in the new cloth which they had brought,
and thus they persuaded him to return; so they rose
up to go back, and Dharmu asked about the women
whom they had met, and Karam Gosain said: "The
woman has a stool stuck to her back because when
visitors came she never offered them a seat ; let her do
so_in future, and she will be freed ; and the woman has
her feet burning in the fire because she pushed the fuel
into the fire with her foot; let her not do so in future,
and she will be freed ; and the woman has the thatching
grass stuck to her head because when she saw a friend
with straw sticking in her hair she did not tell her about
it; let her do so in future and she will be freed; and
the woman has the pai measure stuck to her throat
because, when her neighbour wanted to borrow her
measure, she would not lend it ; let her do so in future
and she will be freed." And Karam Gosain asked whether
36 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
they had seen an elephant and a horse and a buffalo
and a cow and money and mangoes and figs and
Dharmu said "Yes," but that he had not been able to
catch the animals and the fruit was bad, Karam Gosain
promised them that on their way back they should take
possession of all ; and they did so and mounted on the
elephant and returned to their home with great wealth.
On their way they met the four women and told them
how they could be saved from their troubles. The villa-
gers welcomed Dharmu and he arranged a great feast
and gave paddy to all the villagers to husk; but when
they had boiled it the weather became cloudy so that
they could not dry it, so they prayed to the sun and he
at once shone out and dried the paddy.
Then a day was fixed and they prepared rice beer,
and worshipped Karam Gosain and they danced all
night and got very drunk and enjoyed themselves.
VL THE JEALOUS STEPMOTHER.
There was once a man whose wife died leaving him
with one son and after a year he married again. The
second wife was very jealous of the son and she told
her husband that she would not stay with him unless
he killed the boy; at first he refused but she insisted
and then he said that he was frightened to do the deed,
but she might kill the boy herself if she liked. She said,
"No: he is your son and you must kill him; if he were
mine I would do it. You need not be frightened ; when
you take him out ploughing make him drive the front
plough, and you sharpen your plough pole to a point
and drive it into him from behind and kill him and
then it will seem to be an accident." So the man
promised and made a sharp point to his plough pole but
whenever they ploughed, the son drove his plough so
fast that the father could not catch him up and so the
THE PIOUS \yOMAN 37
boy was not killed; then the woman abused her husband
and said that he was deceiving her. So he promised to
finish the business the next day and told her to give the
boy a good hot breakfast before they started, so that he
might receive one last kindness, and he said that they
must find some other way of killing him because all the
ploughing was finished; but his wife told him he could
plough down their crop oi goondli, the bullocks would
stop to eat the goondli as they went along and so he
would easily catch up his son. Accordingly the next
morning fatlier and son took out the ploughs and the
boy asked where they should plough, and the father
said that they would plough down the field oi goondli.
But the boy said " Why should we do that ? it is a good
crop and will be ripe in a day or two; it is too late
to sow again, we shall lose this crop and who knows
whether we shall get anything in its place?"
And the father thought 'What the boy says is true;
the first crop is like the first child, if I kill him who
will support me in my old age? Who knows whether
my second wife will have children. I will not kill him
however angry she be ; ' so they unyoked their ploughs
and went home. He told his wife that he would not
kill the boy and scolded her and ended by giving her
a beating. Then she ran away in a passion but he did
not trouble to go and look for her and in a few days
her father and brothers brought her back, and her
husband told them what had happened and they also
scolded her and told her to mend her ways.
VII. THE PIOUS WOMAN.
There was once a very pious woman and her special
virtue was that she would not eat or drink on any day
until she had first given alms to a beggar. One day
no beggar came to her house, so by noon she got tired
38 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
of waiting, and, tying in her cloth some parched rice,
she went to the place where the women drew water.
When she got there she saw a Jugi coming towards
her, she greeted him and said that she had brought
dried rice for him. He said that omens had bidden him
come to her and that he came to grant her a boon:
she might ask one favour and it would be given her.
The woman said : " Grant me this boon — to know where
our souls go after death, and to see at the time of death
how they escape, whether through the nose or the mouth,
and where they go to; and tell me when I shall die
and where my soul will go to ; this I ask and no more."
Then the Jugi answered, "Your prayer is granted, but
you must tell no one ; if you do, the power will depart
from you." So saying he took from his bag something
like a feather and brushed her eyes with it and washed
them with water. Then the woman's eyes were opened
and she saw spirits — bongas, bhuts, dains, churins, and
the souls of dead men ; and the Jugi told her not to be
afraid, but not to speak to them lest men should think
her mad ; then he took his leave, and she returned home.
Now in the village lived a poor man and his wife
and they were much liked because they were industrious
and obedient; shortly afterwards this poor man died
and the pious woman saw men come with a palankin
and take away the poor man's soul with great ceremony.
She was pleased at the sight and thought that the
souls of all men were taken away like this. But
shortly afterwards her father-in-law died. He had been
a rich man, but harsh, and while the family were
mourning the pious woman saw four sipahis armed with
iron-shod staves and of fierce countenance come to the
house and two entered and took the father-in-law by
the neck and thrust him forth; they bound him and
beat him, they knocked him down and as he could not
walk they dragged him away by his legs. The woman
THE WISE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW 39
followed him to the end of the garden and when she
saw him being dragged away, she screamed. When her
husband's relatives saw her screaming and crying they
were angry and said that she must have killed her father-
in-law by witchcraft, for she did not sit by the corpse
and cry but went to the end of the garden. So after
the body had been burnt they held a council and
questioned her and told her that they would hold her
to be a witch, if she could not explain. So she told
them of the power which the Jugi had conferred on her
and of what she had seen, and they believed her and
acquitted her of the charge ot witchcraft; but from that
time she lost her power and saw no more spirits.
VIII. THE WISE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW.
There was once a rich man who had seven sons, but
one day his wife died and after this the family fell into
poverty. All their property was sold and they lived by
selling firewood in the bazar. At last the wife of the
eldest son said to her father-in-law. " I have a proposal
to make : Do you choose one of us to be head of the
family whom all shall obey; we cannot all be our own
masters as at present." The old man said "Well, I
choose you," and he assembled the whole family and
made them promise to obey the wife of his eldest son.
Thereupon she told them that they must all go out into
the fields and bring her whatever they found. So the
next day they went out in different directions and the
old man found some human excrement and he thought
"Well, my daughter-in-law told me to bring whatever I
found" so he wrapped it up in leaves and took it home;
and his daughter-in-law told him that he had done well
and bade him hang up the packet at the back of the
house. A few days later he found the slough of a snake
and be took that home and his daughter-in-law told him
40 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
to tie a clod of earth to it to prevent its being blown
away, and to throw it on to the roof of the house.
Some years after the Raja of the country was ill with
cancer of the face and none of the ojhas could cure him.
At last one ojha said that there was only one medicine
which could effect a cure;^bift he saw no chance of
obtaining it and that was human excrement 12 years
old. Then the Raja sent messengers throughout the
kingdom offering a reward of 200 Rupees to any one
who could supply excrement twelve years old ; and when
a messenger came to the village where this family lived
the daughter-in-law produced the packet which the old
man had brought home and received the reward of
200 Rupees ; and they were all delighted at making so
much money by what the old man had brought home
in jest.
And again it happened that the son of a Raja was
bathing and he left his gold belt on the bank and a
kite thought it was a snake and flew off with it. The
prince was much distressed at the loss but the Raja told
him not to grieve as the kite must have dropped it
somewhere and he would offer a reward of a thousand
rupees for it. Now the kite had soon found that the
belt was not good to eat and seeing the snake's skin
which the old man had thrown on to the roof of the house,
it dropped the belt and flew off with the skin; and the
daughter-in-law picked up the belt and when criers
came round offering a reward she produced it and
received the money. And they praised her wisdom and
by this means the family became rich again.
IX. THE OILMAN AND HIS SONS.
There was once an oilman with five sons and they
were all married and lived jointly with their father.
But the daughters-in-law were discontented with this
THE OILMAN AND HIS SONS 41
arrangement and urged their husbands to ask their father
to divide the family property. At first the old man
refused, but when his sons persisted, he told them to
bring him a log two cubits long and so thick that two
hands could just span it, and he said that if they could
break the log in two, he would divide the property;
so they brought the log and then asked for axes, but
he told them that they must break it themselves by
snapping it or twisting it or standing on it; so they
tried and failed. Then the old man said, "You are
five and I make six; split the log into six." So they
split it and he gave each a piece and told them to
break them, and each easily snapped his stick ; then the
old man said "We are like the whole log: we have
plenty of property and are strong and can overcome
attack; but if we separate we shall be like the split
sticks and easily broken." They admitted that this was
true and proposed that the property should not be
divided but that they should all become separate in
mess. But the father would not agree to this for he
thought that people would call him a miser if he let
his sons live separately without his giving them their
share in the property as their own. So as they persisted
in their folly he partitioned the property.
But in a few years they all fell into poverty and had
not enough to eat nor clothes to wear, and the father
and mother were no better off; then the old man called
all his sons and their wives and said "You see what
trouble you have fallen into; I have a riddle for you,
explain it to me. "There are four wells, three empty
and one full of water ; if you draw water from the full
one and pour it into the three empty ones they will
become full ; but when they are full and the first one is
empty, if you pour water from the three full ones into the
empty one it will not be filled ; what does this mean ?" And
they could not answer and he said, "The four wells mean
42 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
that a man had three sons, and while they were little
he filled their stomachs as the wells were filled with
water ; but when they separated they would not fill the
old man's stomach."
And it was true, that the sons had done nothing to
help their father and they were filled with shame and
they agreed that as long as their father lived they
would be joint with him and would not separate again
until he died.
X. THE GIRL WHO FOUND HELPERS.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers, and
they were all married, and they had one sister who was
not married. The brothers went away to a far country
for a whole year, leaving their wives at home. Now
the wives hated their sister-in-law and did their best to
torment her. So one day they gave her a pot full of
holes and told her to bring it back full of water; and
threatened that if she failed she should have no food.
So she took the pot to the spring and there sat down
and cried and sang: —
"I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,
I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,
How far away have my brothers gone to trade."
After she had cried a long time, a number of frogs
came up out of the water and asked her what was the
matter, and she told them that she must fill the pot
with water, and was not allowed to stop the holes with
clay or lac. Then they told her not to cry, and said,
that they would sit on the holes and then the water
would not run out; they did this and the girl dried
her eyes and filled the pot with water and took it home.
Her sisters-in-law were much disappointed at her success,
but the next day they told her to go to the jungle and
bring back a bundle of leaves, but she was to use no
THE GIRL WHO FOUND HELPERS 43
rope for tying them up. So she went to the jungle and
collected the leaves and then sat down and cried and
sang : —
"I am to fetch leaves without a rope
I am to fetch leaves without a rope
How far have my brothers gone to trade?"
and as she cried a buka sobo snake came out and asked
why she was crying, and when she told it, it said that
it would coil itself round the leaves in place of a rope.
So it stretched itself out straight and she piled the leaves
on the top of it and the snake coiled itself tightly round
them and so she was able to carry the bundle home
on her head. Her sisters-in-law ran to see how she
managed it, but she put the bundle down gently and
the snake slipped away unperceived. Still they resolved
to try again; so the next day they sent her to fetch a
bundle of fire wood, but told her that she was to use
no rope to tie it with. So she went to the jungle and
collected the sticks and then sat down and cried: —
"I am to bring wood without tying it,
I am to bring wood without tying it.
How far have my brothers gone to trade?"
and as she cried a python came out and asked what
was the matter, and when it heard, it told her not to
cry and said that it would act as a rope to bind up
the sticks; so it stretched itself out and she laid the
sticks on it and then it coiled itself round them and
she carried the bundle home.
As the sisters-in-law had been baffled thus, they resolved
on another plan and proposed that they should all go and
gather sticks in the jungle ; and on the way they came to
a machunda tree in full flower and they wanted to pick
some of the flowers. The wicked sisters-in-law at first
began to climb the tree, but they pretended that they
could not and kept slipping down ; then they hoisted
44 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
their sister-in-law into the branches and told her to throw
down the flowers to them. But while she was in the tree,
they tied thorns round the trunk so that she could not
descend and then left her to starve. After she had been
in the tree a long time, her brothers passed that way on
their return journey, and sat down under the tree to rest ;
the girl was too weak to speak but she cried and her
tears fell on the back of her eldest brother, and he
looked up and saw her; then they rescued her and
revived her and listened to her story; and they were
very angry and vowed to have revenge. So they gave
their sister some needles and put her in a sack and put
the sack on one of the pack-bullocks. And when they
got home, they took the sack off gently and told their
wives to carry it carefully inside the house, and on no
account to put it down. But when the wives took it
up, the girl inside pricked them with the needles so that
they screamed and let the sack fall. Their husbands
scolded them and made them take it up again, and
they had to carry it in, though they were pricked till
the blood ran down. Then the brothers enquired about
all that had happened in their absence, and at last asked
after their sister, and their wives said that she had gone
to the jungle with some friends to get firewood. But
the brothers turned on them and told how they had
found her in the vtachunda tree and had brought he""
home in the sack, and their wives were dumb-founded.
Then the brothers said that they had made a vow to
dig a well and consecrate it; so they set to work to
dig a well two fathoms across and three fathoms deep ;
and when they reached water, they fixed a day for the
consecration; and they told their wives to put on their
best clothes and do the cumaura (betrothal) ceremony
at -^ the well. So the wives went to the well, escorted
by drummers, and as they stood in a row round the
well, each man pushed his own wife into it and then
THE GIRL WHO FOUND HELPERS 45
they covered the well with a wooden grating and kept
them in it for a whole year and at the end of the year
they pulled them out again.
Another version of this story gives three other tasks
preliminary to those given above and begins as follows : —
Once upon a time there was a girl named Hira who
had seven brothers. The brothers went away to a far
country to trade leaving her alone in the house with
their wives; these seven sisters-in-law hated Hira and
did what they could to torment her; one day they
sowed a basketful of mustard seed in a field and then
told her to go and pick it all up ; she went to the field
and began to lament, singing: —
"They have sown a basket of mustard seedl
Oh, how far away have my brothers gone to trade."
As she cried a flock of pigeons came rustling down
and asked her what was the matter, and when they
heard, they told her to be comforted ; they at once set
to work picking up the mustard grain by grain and
putting it into her basket; soon the basket was quite
full and she joyfully took it home and showed it to
her sisters-in-law. Then they set her another task and
told her to bring them some bear's hair that they might
weave it into a hair armlet for her wedding. So she
went off to the jungle and sat down to cry; as she
wept two bear cubs came up and asked what was the
matter; when she told her story they bade her be of
good cheer and took her into their cave and hid her.
Presently the mother bear came back and suckled her
cubs, and when they had finished they asked their
mother to leave them some of her hair that they might
amuse themselves by plaiting it while she was away.
46 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
She did so and directly she had gone off to look for
food, the cubs gave the girl the hair and sent her home
rejoicing. The sisters-in-law were only made more angry
by her success and plotted how to kill her, so they
ordered her to bring them some tiger's milk that they
might make it into curds for her wedding. Then she
went off to the jungle and began to weep, singing: —
"I brought the hair of a bear:
How far away have my brothers gone to trade."
At the sound two tiger cubs came running up and
asked what was the matter; they told her to be com-
forted and they would manage to give her what she
wanted; and they took her and hid her near where
they were lying. Presently the tigress came back and
suckled her cubs and as she did so she declared that
she smelt a human being, but the cubs laughed at her
and said that it must be they whom she smelt; so she
was satisfied, and as she was leaving them they asked
her to leave some of her milk in an earthern pot so
that they might have something to drink if she were
long in coming back. The tigress did so and directly
she was gone the cubs gave the milk to the girl who
took it home. — The story then continues as before.
XL HOW TO GROW RICH.
Once upon a time there was a woman whose husband
died while she was pregnant, and she was very unhappy
and used to pray daily to Singh Chando to give her
a man child in place of her husband ; she was left well
off and among her property were three gold coins,
and as she was afraid of these being stolen she decided
to place them in the care of the village headman. So
she took them to him and asked him to keep them till
her child was born ; and no one was present at the
HOW TO GROW RICH 47
time but the headman's wife. In due time her child
was born and by the mercy of Singh Chando it was a
son ; and when the boy had grown a bit and could run
alone his mother decided to take back the gold coins,
so she went to the headman and asked him for them;
but he and his wife said : " We do not understand what
you are talking about? We know of no gold coins:
where are your witnesses? You must have had wit-
nesses in such a business." And they drove her out.
She went away crying and called the villagers together
and asked them to decide the matter. So they questioned
her and the headman but as it was word against word
they could come to no decision ; so they settled to put
the parties on oath, but the headman and the woman
both swore that they had spoken the truth, saying,
"May we die if we have spoken falsely." Then the
villagers made them swear by their children and the
woman and the headman laid their hands on the heads
of their sons and swore; and when the woman swore
her son fell down dead and she took up the dead body
in her arms and ran away with it.
The villagers were very sorry for what had happened
but the headman and his wife abused them for not
having believed their word. The woman had not gone
very far before she met a stranger who asked why she
was crying and when she told him, he said: "Do not
cry: you told one falsehood and so your son has died.
Take your child back to the villagers and tell them
that it was five gold coins and not three that you gave
to the headman and if you do this the child will come
to life again."
So the woman hastened back and found the villagers
still assembled and she told them as the stranger had
directed; and she agreed to be sworn again on the
body of the child, and the headman promised to pay
five gold pieces if the child were restored to life. So
48 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the woman laid her hands on the dead child and swore,
and it was restored to life. Then the headman was
dumbfounded and reluctantly brought out five gold
pieces and gave them to the woman. She gave five
rupees to the villagers and they made the headman
give them ten rupees for having deceived them, and
they bought pigs and had a feast.
In the course of time the boy grew up and his mother
urged him to marry. He asked her if she knew how
to choose a wife and also what sort of cattle to buy,
and she said that she did not know; her husband had
not told her this. So the youth said that he would go
to Singh Chando and ask.
His mother washed his clothes for him and gave him
food for the journey and he set out. On the way he
met a man who asked him where he was going and he
answered that he was going to make a petition to
Singh Chando. "Then," said the man, "make a petition
for me also. I have so much wealth that I cannot
look after it all; ask him to take away half from me."
The youth promised and went on and he met another
man who said that he had so many cattle that he could
not build enough cow-houses for them and asked him
to petition Singh Chando to diminish their number;
and he promised, and went on and came to Singh
Chando, and there he asked how to choose a wife and
how to buy cattle. And Singh Chando said, "When
you buy a bullock first put your hand on its quarter
and if it shrinks and tries to get free, buy it ; and when
you want a wife enquire first as to the character of her
father and mother; good parents make good children."
Then the youth asked about the two men he had met;
Singh Chando said: — "Tell the first man when he is
ploughing to plough two or three furrows beyond the
boundary of his field and his wealth will diminish and
tell the second man to drive away three or four of his
THE CHANGED CALF 49
cattle every day and their number will decrease." So
the youth returned and met the man who had too many
cattle and told him what Chando had said, and the
man thought "If I drive away three or four head of
cattle every day I shall soon become poor" so from
that time he looked out for any straying cattle and
would drive them home with his own; if the owner
claimed them, he gave them up, but if no claimant
appeared, he kept them and so he became richer than
ever. And the youth went on and met the man who
was too rich, and when he heard what Chando had
said he thought "If I plough over the boundary on to
my neighbour's land it will be a great sin and I shall
soon become poor;" and he went to his ploughmen
and told them never to plough right up to the edge
of the field but to leave two of three furrows space,
and they obeyed and from that time he grew richer than
ever. And the youth returned to his mother and told
her all that had happened and they understood the
meaning of the advice which Chando had given to the
two men and acted accordingly. And it is true that
we see that avaricious men who trespass across bound-
aries become poor.
XII. THE CHANGED CALF.
There was once a cowherd named Sona who saved
a few rupees and he decided to buy a calf so as to have
something to show for his labours; and he went to a
distant village and bought a bull calf and on the way
home he was benighted. So he turned into a Hindu
village and went to an oilman's house and asked to be
allowed to sleep there. When the oilman saw such a
fine calf he coveted it and he told Sona to put it in the
stable along with his own bullock and he gave him some
supper and let him sleep in the verandah. But in the
4
50 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS ,
middle of the night the oilman got up and moistened
some oil cake and plastered it over the calf; he then
untied his own bullock and made it lick the oil cake
off the calf, and as the bullock was accustomed to eat
oil cake it licked it greedily; then the oilman raised a
cry, '< The bullock that turns the oil mill has given birth
to a calf." And all the villagers collected, and saw the
bullock licking the calf and they believed the oilman.
Sona did not wake up and knew nothing of all this, the
next morning he got up and went to untie his calf and
drive it away, but the oilman would not let him and
claimed the calf as his own. Then Sona called the
villagers to come and decide the matter : but they said
that they had seen him bring no calf to the village and
he had not called any of them to witness it, but they
had seen the bullock licking the calf; why should the
bullock lick any but its own calf? No one ever saw a
bullock lick a strange bullock or cow and so they award-
ed the calf to the oilman. Then Sona said that he
would call someone to argue the matter and he went
away meaning to get some men from the next village:
but he lost his way in the jungle and as he went along
a night-jar flew up from under his feet; he called out
to it to stay as he was in great distress, and the bird
alighted and asked what was the matter, and Sona told
it his trouble. Then the night-jar said that it would argue
the matter for him but it must have a colleague and it
told Sona to go on and ask the first living being he met
to help ; so he went on and met a jackal and the jackal
agreed to help the night-jar, and they told him to call
the villagers to the edge of the jungle and not to let
them bring any dogs with them. So Sona brought all
the villagers to the jungle and the night-jar and jackal
sat side by side on a stone.
Then Sona asked the villagers whether they would let
him take away the calf or no, and they persisted in
THE KOERI AND THE BARBER 51
their previous opinion. At last one man said, "What
are your advocates doing? it seems to me that they are
asleep." And at this the two woke up with a start and
looked about them, and the night-jar said " I have been
asleep and dreamed a dream : will you men please hear
it and explain its meaning?"
And the jackal said, " I too have had a dream, please
explain it for me. If you can explain the meaning you
shall Ireep the calf and, if not, the boy shall have it."
The villagers told them to speak and the night-jar said,
" I saw two night-jar's eggs and one egg was sitting on
the other ; no mother bird was sitting on them, tell me
what this means." And the jackal said, " I saw that the
sea was on fire and the fishes were all being burnt up,
and I was busy eating them and that was why I did
not wake up, what is the meaning of this dream ?" And
the villagers said. "The two dreams are both alike:
neither has any meaning; an egg cannot sit on an egg,
and the sea cannot catch fire." The jackal said, " Why
cannot it be ? If you won't believe that water can catch
fire why do you say that a bullock gave birth to a calf?
Have you ever seen such a thing? Speak." And they
admitted that they had never seen a bullock have a
calf, but only cows. "Then," said the jackal, "explain
why you have given the oilman a decree." And they
admitted that they were wrong and awarded the calf to
Sona and fined the oilman five rupees for having deceiv-
ed them.
XIII. THE KOERI AND THE BARBER.
There was a well-to-do man of the Koeri (cultivating)
caste and opposite his house lived a barber who was
very poor ; and the barber thought that if he carried on
his cultivation just as the Koeri did he might get better
results ; so every day he made some pretext to visit the
52 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Koeri's house and hear what work he was gohig to do
the next day, and with the same object he would listen
outside his house at night; and he exactly imitated the
Koeri : he yoked his cattle and unyoked them, he plough-
ed and sowed and transplanted just when the Koeri did
and the result was good, for that year he got a very
fine crop. But he was not content with this and resolved
to continue to copy the Koeri ; the Koeri suspected what
the barber was doing and did not like it. So he resolved
to put the matter to the test and at the same time teach
the barber to mind his own business. In January they
both planted sugar cane, and one day when the crop
was half grown the barber was sitting at the Koeri's
house and the Koeri gave orders to his servants to put
the leveller over the crop the next day and break it
down ; this was only a pretence of the Koeri's, but the
barber went away and the next day crushed his sugar
cane crop with the leveller, the whole village laughed
to see what he had done; but it turned out that each
root of the barber's sugar cane sent up a number of
shoots and in the end he had a much heavier crop than
the Koeri.
Another day the Koeri announced that he was going
to sow but (pulse) and therefore ordered his servants to
bring out the seed and roast it well, that it might germi-
nate quickly ; and the barber hearing this went off and
had his seed but roasted and the next day he sowed it,
but only a very few seeds germinated, while the crop
of the Koeri which had not really been roasted sprouted
finely. The barber asked the Koeri why his crop had
not come up well, and the Koeri told him that it must
be because he had not roasted the seed enough; the
few seeds that had come up must have been those
which had been roasted most. But in the end the laugh
was against the Koeri, for the few seeds of the barber's
which germinated, produced such fine plants that when
THE PRINCE WHO ACQUIRED WISDOM 53
he came to thresh them out he had more grain than
the Koeri, and so in 3 or 4 years the barber became
the richer man of the two.
XIV. THE PRINCE WHO ACQUIRED WISDOM.
There was once a Raja who had an only son and the
Raja was always urging his son to learn to read and
write in order that when he came to his kingdom he
might manage well and be able to decide disputes that
were brought to him for judgment; but the boy paid
no heed to his father's advice and continued to neglect
his lessons. At last when he was grown up, the Prince
saw that his father was right and he resolved to go
away to foreign countries to acquire wisdom; so he set
off without telling anyone but his wife, and he took
with him a purse of money and three pieces of gold.
After travelling a long time, he one day saw a man
ploughing in a field and he went and got some tobacco
from him and asked him whether there were any wise
men living in that neighbourhood. " What do you want
with wise men?", asked the ploughman. The Prince said
that he was travelling to get wisdom. The ploughman
said that he would give him instruction if he were paid.
Then the Prince promised to give him one gold piece
for each piece of wisdom. The ploughman agreed and
said. "Listen attentively! My first maxim is this:
' You are the son of a Raja ; whenever you go to visit
a friend or one of your subjects and they offer you a
bedstead, or stool, or mat to sit on, do not sit down
at once but move the stool or mat a little to one side ;
this is one maxim: give me my gold coin." So the
Prince paid him. Then the ploughman said. "The
second maxim is this: You are the son of a Raja;
whenever you go to bathe, do not bathe at the common
bathing place, but at a place by yourself; give me my
54 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
coin," and the Prince did so. Then he continued,
" My third maxim is this : ' You are the son of a Raja ;
when men come to you for advice or to have a dispute
decided, listen to what the majority of those present
say and do not follow your own fancy, now pay me;"
and the Prince gave him his last gold coin, and said
that he had no more. "Well," said the ploughman,
'<youf lesson is finished but still I will give you one
more piece of advice free and it is this : " You are the
son of a Raja; Restrain your anger, if anything you
see or hear makes you angry, still do not at once take
action; hear the explanation and weigh it well, then if
you find cause you can give rein to your anger and
if not, let the offender off!"
After this the prince set his face homewards as he had
spent all his money; and he began to repent of having
spent his gold pieces on advice that seemed worthless.
However on his way he turned into a bazar to buy some
food and the shopkeepers on all sides called out " Buy,
buy," so he went to a shop and the shopkeeper invited
him to sit on a rug ; he was just about to do so when he
remembered the maxim of his instructor and pulled the
rug to one side; and when he did so he saw that it
had been spread over the mouth of a well and that if
he had sat on it he would have been killed * ; so he
began to believe in the wisdom of his teacher. Then
he went on his way and on the road he turned aside
to a tank to bathe, and remembering the maxim of his
teacher he did not bathe at the common place but went
to a place apart ; then having eaten his lunch he continued
his journey, but he had not gone far when he found that
he had left his purse behind, so he turned back and
found it lying at the place where he had put down his
things when he bathed; thereupon he applauded the
• This is why Santals when going to eat, move the stool that
is offered to them before they sit down on it.
THE PRINCE WHO ACQUIRED WISDOM 55
wisdom of his teacher, for if he had bathed at the
common bathing place someone would have seen the
purse and have taken it away. When evening came on
he turned into a village and asked the headman to let
him sleep in his verandah, and there was already one
other traveller sleeping there and in the morning it was
found that the traveller had died in his sleep. Then
the headman consulted the villagers and they decided
that there was nothing to be done but to throw away
the body, and that as the Prince was also a traveller he
should do it. At first he refused to touch the corpse as
he was the son of a Raja, but the villagers insisted and
then he bethought himself of the maxim that he should
not act contrary to the general opinion ; so he yielded
and dragged away the body, and threw it into a ravine.
Before leaving it he remembered that it was proper
to remove the clothes, and when he began to do so he
found round the waist of the body a roll of coin ; so he
took this and was glad that he had followed the advice
of his teacher.
That evening he reached the boundary of his own
territory and decided to press on home although it was
dark; at midnight he reached the palace and without
arousing anyone went to the door of his wife's room.
Outside the door he saw a pair of shoes and a sword ;
at the sight he became wild with rage and drawing the
sword he called out: "Who is in my room?"
As a matter of fact the Prince's wife had got the
Prince's little sister to sleep with her, and when the girl
heard the Prince's voice she got up to leave ; but when
she opened the door and saw the Prince standing with
the drawn sword she drew back in fear; she told him
who she was and explained that they had put the shoes
and sword at the door to prevent anyone else from
entering; but in his wrath the Prince would not listen
and called to her to come out and be killed.
56 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Then she took off her cloth and showed it to him
through the crack of the door and at the sight of this
he was convinced; then he reflected on the advice of
his teacher and repented, because he had nearly killed
his sister through not restraining his wrath.
XV. THE MONKEY BOY.
There was once a man who had six sons and two
daughters and he died leaving his wife pregnant of a
ninth child.
And when the child was born it proved to be a monkey,
The villagers and relations advised the mother to
make away with it, but she refused saying " Chando
knows why he has given me such a child, but as he
has done so I will rear it."
All her relations said that if she chose to rear a
monkey they would turn her out of the family. However
she persisted that she would do so at all costs. So
they sent her to live with her child in a hut outside
the village, and the monkey boy grew up and learned
to talk like a human being.
One day his elder brothers began to clear the jungle
for cultivation and the monkey boy took a hatchet and
went with them ; he asked where he could clear land
for himself and in fun they showed him the place where
the jungle was thickest. So he went there and drove
his hatchet into the trunk of a tree and then returned
and watched his brothers working hard clearing the
scrub, and when they had finished their work he went
and fetched his hatchet and returned home with them.
Every day he did the same— and one day his brothers
asked why he spent all his time with them, but he said
that he only came to them when he was tired of cutting
down trees; they laughed at this and said that they
would like to see his clearing, so he took them to the
THE MONKEY BOY
57
place and to their astonishment they saw a large clearing,
bigger than they had been able to make for themselves.
Then the brothers burnt the jungle they had cut down
and began to plough the land.
But the monkey boy's mother had no plough or
cattle nor any seed rice; the only thing in the house
was a pumpkin, so he took the seed out of the pumpkin
and sowed it in his clearing. His brothers asked what
he had sown and he told them — Rice.
The brothers ploughed and sowed and used to go
daily to watch the growing crop, and one day they
went to have a look at the monkey boy's crop and they
saw that it was pumpkins and not rice and they laughed
at him. When their crop was ripe the brothers pre-
pared to offer the first fruits and the monkey boy
watched them that he might observe the same ceremonies
as they. One day they brought home the first fruits
and offered them to the bongas, and they invited the
monkey boy and his mother to come to the feast which
followed the offering.
They both went and enjoyed themselves ; and two or
three days later the monkey boy said that he would also
have a feast of first fruits, so he told his mother to
clear the courtyard and invited his brothers and he
purified himself and went to his clearing and brought
home the biggest pumpkin that had grown there ; this he
offered to the spirits; he sliced off the top of it as if
it were the head of a fowl, and as he did so he saw
that the inside was full of rice; he called his mother
and they filled a winnowing fan with the rice and there
was enough besides to nearly fill a basket; they were
delighted at this windfall but kept the matter secret lest
they should be robbed. The monkey boy told his
mother to be sure and cook enough rice so that his
brothers and their wives might have as much as ever
they could eat, and not merely a small helping such as
58 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
they had given him, and if necessary he would go and
fetch another pumpkin; so his mother boiled the rice.
When the time fixed for the feast came, nothing was
to be seen of the brothers because they did not expect
that there would really be anything for them to eat;
so the monkey boy went and fetched them, and when
they came to the feast they were astonished to have
as much rice as they could eat. When the crop was quite
ripe the monkey boy gathered all the pumpkins and
got sufficient rice from them to last for the whole year.
After this the brothers went out to buy horses, and
the monkey boy went with them and as he had no
money he took nothing but a coil of rope ; his brothers
were ashamed to have him with them and drove him
away, so he went on ahead and got first to the place
where the horsedealer lived. The brothers arrived late
in the evening and decided to make their purchases the
following morning and ride their horses home, so they
camped for the night. The monkey boy spent the
night hiding on the rafters of the stable; and in the
night the horses began to talk to each other and dis-
cussed which could gallop farthest, and one mare said.
" I can gallop twelve kos on the ground and then twelve
kos in the air." When the monkey boy heard this he
got down and lamed the mare by running a splinter
into her hoof. The next morning the brothers bought
the horses which pleased them and rode off. Then the
monkey boy went to the horsedealer and asked why
the mare was lame and advised him to apply remedies.
But the dealer said that that was useless : when horses
got ill they always died; then the monkey boy asked
if he would sell the mare and offered to give the coil
of rope in exchange ; the dealer, thinking that the animal
was useless, agreed, so the monkey boy led it away,
but when he was out of sight he took out the splinter
and the lameness at once ceased. Then he mounted
THE MONKEY BOY
59
the mare and rode after his brothers, and when he had
nearly overtaken them he rose into the air and flew
past his brothers and arrived first at home. There he
tied up the mare outside his house and went and bathed
and had his dinner and waited for his brothers.
They did not arrive for a full hour afterwards and
when they saw the monkey boy and his mount they
wanted to know how he had got home first. He boasted
of how swift his mare was and so they arranged to have
a race and match their horses against his. The race
took place two or three days later and the monkey boy's
mare easily beat all the other horses, she gallopped
twelve kos on the ground and twelve kos in the air.
Then they wanted to change their horses for his, but
he said they had had first choice and he was not going
to change.
In two or three years the monkey boy became rich
and then he announced that he wanted to marry ; this
puzzled his mother for she thought that no human girl
would marry him while a monkey would not be able
to talk; so she told him that he must find a bride for
himself. Ode day he set off to look for a wife and
came to a tank in which some girls were bathing, and
he took up the cloth belonging to one of them and ran
up a tree with it, and when the girl missed it and saw
it hanging down from the tree she borrowed a cloth
from her friends and went and asked the monkey boy
for her own; he told her that she could only have it
back if she consented to marry him ; she was surprised
to find that he could talk and as he conversed she was
bewitched by him and let him pull her up into the
tree by her hair, and she called out to her friends to
go home and leave her where she was. Then he took
her on his back and ran off home with her.
The girl's father and relations turned out with bows
and arrows to look for the monkey who had carried
6o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
her off but he had gone so far away that they never
found him. When the monkey boy appeared with his
bride all the villagers were astonished that he had found
anyone to marry him, but everything was made ready
for the marriage as quickly as possible and all the
relations were invited and the wedding took place and
the monkey boy and his wife lived happily ever after.
XVL THE MISER'S SERVANT.
Once there was a rich man who was a miser. Although
he kept farm servants they would never stay out the
year with him ; but ran away in the middle. When the
villagers asked why they ran away and so lost their
year's wages the servants answered. "You would do
the same in our place: at the busy time of the year he
speaks us fair and feeds us well, but directly the crops
are gathered he begins to starve us ; this year we have
had nothing to eat since September."
And the villagers said "Well, that is a good reason,
a man can stand scolding but not starvation; we all
work to fill our bellies, hunger is the worst disease of
all." The news that the miser made his servants work
for nothing spread throughout the neighbourhood so he
could get no servants near by and when he brought
them from a distance they soon heard of his character
and ran away. Men would only work for him on daily
wages and because of his miserliness they demanded
higher wages than usual from him and would not work
without. Now there was a young fellow named Kora
who heard all this and he said " If I were that man's
servant I would not run away. I would get the better
of him; ask him if he wants a servant and if he says,
yes, take me to him." The man to whom Kora told
this went to the miser and informed him that Kora was
willing to engage himself to him; so Kora was fetched
THE MISER'S SERVANT 6i
and they had a drink of rice beer and then the miser
asked Kora whether he would work for the full year
and not run away in the middle. Kora said that he
would stay if he were satisfied with the wages. The
master said "I will fix your wages when I see your
work; if you are handy at every thing I will give you
12 Kats of rice and if you are only a moderate worker
then 9 or lo Kats besides your clothes. How much
do you ask for?"
And Kora said " Well, listen to me : I hear that
your servants run away in the middle of the year
because you give them so little to eat, all I ask for
my wages is that you give me once a year one grain
of rice and I will sow it and you must give me low
land to plant all the seed that I get from it; and
give me one seed of maize and I will sow it for
seed, and you must give me upland to sow all the
seed I get from it ; and give me the customary quantity
of clothes, and for food give me one leaf full of rice
three times a day. I only want what will go on a single
leaf, you need not sew several leaves together into a
plate. I will ask for no second helping but if you do
not fill the leaf full I shall have the right to abuse you,
and if I do not do all the work you give me properly,
then you can abuse me and beat me. If I run away
from fear of hard work you may cut off the little finger
of my right hand, and if you do not give me the wages
we have agreed upon then I shall have the right to
cut off the little finger of your hand. What do you
say to this proposal: consult your friends and give me
your answer." Then the miser answered "I engage you
on these terms and if I turn you off without reason you
may cut off my little finger." Then Kora turned to the
man who had fetched him and said " Listen to all this :
if there is any dispute hereafter you will be my witness."
So Kora began to work and the first day they gave
62 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
him rice on a single sal leaf and he ate it up in one
mouthful: but the next day he brought a plantain leaf
(which is some three feet long) and said " Give me my
rice on this and mind you fill it full." And they refused :
but he said "Why not? it is only a single leaf" and
they had to give in because he was within his rights ;
so he ate as much as he wanted, and every day he
brought a plantain leaf till his master's wife got tired
and said to her husband " Why have you got a servant
like this — he takes a whole pot of rice to himself every
day," but he answered "Never mind: his wages are
nothing, he is working for his keep alone;" so the
whole year Kora got his plantain leaf filled and he was
never lazy over his work so they could find no fault
with him on that score, and when the year was up they
gave him one grain of rice and one seed of maize for
his wages for the year. Kora kept them carefully, and
his master's sons laughed at him and said " Mind you
don't drop them or let a mouse eat them."
Kora said nothing but when the time for sowing maize
came he took his grain of maize and sowed it by the
dung heap, and he called them to see where he sowed
it; and at the time of sowing rice he sowed his grain
separately, and when the time for transplanting came he
planted his rice seedling in a hollow and bade them note
it. When the maize ripened it was found that his plant
had two big cobs and one small one on it, and his rice
seedling sent up a number of ears ; and when it ripened
he cut it and threshed it and got one pai of rice, and
he kept the maize and rice for seed. And the next
year also he sowed this seed separately and it produced
a big basket of rice and another one of maize, and he
kept this also for seed ; and in the course of five or six
years he had taken all their high lands to sow his seed
in and in a few years more he had taken all their rice
lands too. Then his master was very miserable but he
KUWAR AND THE RAJAH'S DAUGHTER 63
saw that it was useless to make any complaint and the
master became so poor that he had to work as a servant
to Kora. At last the miser called the heads of the
village together and wept before them, and they had
pity on him and interceded for him; but Kora said
"It is God who has punished him and not I; he made
poor men work for nothing for so long and now he has
to suffer ; " but they asked him to be merciful and give
him some land, and he agreed and said "Cut off his
little finger and I will let him off his bargain ; and call
all the servants whom he has defrauded and I will pay
them" but the miser would not have his finger cut off;
then Kora said " Let him keep his finger and I will give
him back half his land." The miser agreed to this and
promised to treat his servants well in future, and in
order to lessen his shame he married his daughter to
Kora; and he had to admit that it was by his own
folly that this trouble had befallen him.
XVII. KUWAR AND THE RAJAH'S DAUGHTER.
There was once a rich merchant who lived in a Raja's
city; and the Raja founded a school iu order that his
own children might have some education, and the boys
and the girls of the town used to go to the school as
well as the Raja's sons and daughters and among them
the rich merchant's son, whose name was Kuwar. In
the course of time the children all learned to read and
write. In the evenings all the boys used to mount their
horses and go for a ride.
Now it happened that Kuwar and the Raja's daughter
fell in love with each other and she wrote him a letter
saying that if he did not marry her she would forcibly
install herself in his house. He wrote back and begged
her not to come to his house as this would be the ruin
of his family; but he said that he would willingly run
64 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
away with her to a distant country, and spend his whole
life with her, if she would overlook the fact that they
were of different castes ; and if she agreed to this they
must settle to what country to go. Somehow news of
their intention got about, and the Raja was told that
his daughter was in love with the merchant's son. Then
the Raja gave orders that his daughter was not to be
allowed to go outside the palace, and the merchant
spoke severely to Kuwar and neither of them was allowed
to go to the school any more. But one day the princess
went to the place where the Raja's horses were tied up
and among them was a mare named Piyari and she
went up to the mare and said "You have eaten our
salt for a long time, will you now requite me?" And
Piyari said " Certainly I will 1 ". Then the princess asked
"If I mount you, will you jump over all these horses
and this wall and escape?" And the mare said "Yes,
but you will have to hold on very tight." The princess
said " That is my look-out : it is settled that on the day
I want you you will jump over the wall and escape."
Then she wrote a letter to Kuwar and gave it to her
maid-servant to deliver into Kuwar's own hands, without
letting anyone know: and in the letter she fixed a day
for their elopement and told Kuwar to wait for her by
a certain tree. So on the day fixed after everyone was
asleep Kuwar went to the tree and almost at once the
princess came to him riding on Piyari; he asked her
how she had escaped and whether she had been seen
and she told him how the mare had jumped over the
wall without anyone knowing; then they both mounted
Piyari and drove her like the wind and in one night
they passed through the territory of two or three Rajas
and in the morning were in a far country,
Then they dismounted to cook their rice, and went
to the house of an old woman to ask for a light with
which to light their fire. Now this old woman had
KUWAR AND THE RAJAH'S DAUGHTER 65
seven sons and they were all robbers and murderers;
and six of them had killed travellers and carried off
their wives and married them. When Kuwar and the
princess came asking for a light the seven sons were
away hunting and when the old woman saw the prin-
cess she resolved to marry her to her youngest son,
and made a plan to delay them ; so she asked them to
cook their rice at her house and offered them cooking
pots and water pots and firewood and everything neces-
sary; they did not know that she meant to kill Kuwar
and unsuspiciously accepted her offer. When they had
finished cooking Kuwar asked the old woman whether
she lived alone and she told him that she was a widow
but had seven sons and they were all away on a trading
expedition. The old woman kept on looking out to see
if her sons were returning, and she had made an
arrangement with them that if she ever wanted them
she would set fire to a small hut and they would come
home at once when they saw the smoke rising. But
before her sons came back Kuwar and the princess
finished their meal and paid the old woman and mounted
Piyari and gallopped off. Then the old woman set fire
to the hut and her sons, seeing the smoke hurried home.
She told them that a beautiful girl had just left who
would make a suitable wife for the youngest of the
brothers. Then the brothers tied on their swords and
mounted their horses and went in pursuit. Kuwar and
the princess knew nothing of, their danger and rode on
happily, but presently they heard horses neighing behind
them and looking round, saw men riding after them with
drawn swords. Then the princess said to Kuwar " Our
enemies are upon us ; do you sit in front and let me
sit behind you, then they will kill us both together. If
I am in front they may kill you alone and carry me
off alive." But while they were thinking of this the
seven brothers caught them up, and began to abuse
S
66 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
them and charge them with having set fire to the house
in which they had eaten their rice, and told them to
come back with them at once. Kuwar and the princess
were too frightened to answer and they had no sword
with which to defend themselves. Then the robbers
surrounded them and killed Kuwar, and they said to
the princess "You cannot stay here all alone; we will
take you back and you shall marry one of us." The
princess answered "Kill me here at once, never will I
go with you." They said "We shall take away your
horse and all your food, will not that make you go?"
But the princess threw herself on the dead body ot
Kuwar and for all they could do they could not drag
her off it. Then the murderers said to the youngest
brother "She is to be your wife: you must pull her
away," But he refused saying „ No, if I take her away
she will not stay with me, she will probably hang
herself or drown herself; I do not want a wife Kke that,
if any of you want her, yon can have her." But they
said that it would not be right for one of them to take
a second wife while their youngest brother was un-
married, and that their mother intended him to marry
this girl ; if he would not they would kill her there and
then. But the youngest brother had pity on her and
asked them to spare her life, so they took away her
horse and her food and everything that she had and
went away and left her there.
For a day and a night the princess lay there weeping
and lamenting her dead Kuwar and never ceased for a
moment. Then Chando said " who is this who is weeping
and what has happened to her? And he sent Bidhi
and Bidha to see what was the matter; they came and
told him that a princess was weeping over the body of
her dead husband and would not leave him though she
had been robbed of everything she had.
Then Chando told them to go and frighten her, and
KUWAR AND tHE RAJaH'S DAUGHTER 67
if they could frighten her away from her husband's dead
body he would do nothing, but if she would not leave
him then they were to restore him to life. So they
went and found her holding the dead body of her
husband in her lap and weeping ; and they first assumed
the form of tigers and began to circle round her roaring,
but she only went on weeping and sang —
"You have come roaring," tigress:
First eat me, tigress:
Then only will I let you eat the body of my lord."
She would not quit the body nor run away from fear
of the tigers, so they slunk away and came back in
the form of two leopards, and prowled round her growl-
ing; but she only sang
"You have come roaring, leopardess
First eat me, leopardess
Then only will I let you eat the body of my lord."
and as she would not fly from them they slunk away
and came back in the form of two bears, but the
princess only sang the same song; then they appeared
as two elephants; and then as two huge snakes which
hissed terribly but still she only wept; and in many
forms they tried to frighten her away but she would
not move nor leave the corpse of Kuwar, so in the end
they saw that all the heart of the princess was with
Kuwar and that even in death they could not be sep-
arated, so at last they drew near to her in the form of
human beings and asked her why she was crying, as
they had heard her weeping from a long way off, and
had been filled with pity for her lamentations. Then the
princess said "Alas, this youth and I are from such
and such a country and as we loved and our lives were
bound up in each other we ran away together hither, and
here on the road he has been killed and the murderers
have left me without my horse or food; and this is why
68 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS "
I weep. Then Bidhi and Bidha said " Daughter, rise up
and we will take you to your home, or we will iind
you another husband ; this one is dead and cannot be
restored to you ; you will find another ; come arise, you
have but one life." But the princess answered "No I
will not go and leave him here. I will not leave him
while my life lasts ; but I pray you if you know of any
medicine that might restore him to life, to try it. " Then
they answered "We know something of medicine and
if you wish we will try to cure him ; " so saying, they
ground up some simples and told the princess to spread
out a cloth and lay the dead body on it and to put
the head which had been cut off into position, and then
to cover it with the cloth and hold the head in posi-
tion; so she did as they bade, and they rubbed the
medicine on the body and then they suddenly disappeared
from her sight.
Then in a few moments she saw Kuwar's chest heave
as if he were breathing; thereupon she shook him
violently and he rose up and said "Oh, what a long
time I have slept," but the princess said "Do not
talk of sleep; you were killed and two men appeared
from somewhere and applied medicine and brought you
to life again ; " then Kuwar asked where they were and
she told him how they had disappeared without her
knowledge.
Then they rose up and went in search of food to
a village where there was a bazar, and they tried to
get employment as servants; but the people advised
them to go to the capital city where the Raja lived,
and there if no one would take them as servants they
could get employment as coolies on a big tank which
the Raja was excavating. So they went there, and
as they could not get employment as servants they
went to work at the tank with the common coolies and
were paid their wages at the end of the week and so
KUWAR AND THE RAJAH'S DAUGHTER 69
managed to live. Kuwar's desire was to somehow save
five or six rupees and then build a little house for
themselves.
Now although the tank had been dug very deep
there were no signs of any water. Then the Raja
ordered the centre post to be planted in hopes that
this would make the water rise ; and he told the coolies
not to run away as he would make a feast to celebrate
the making of the tank and would distribute presents
among them, and at this the labourers were very pleased.
Now Kuwar's wife was very fair to see and the Raja
saw her and fell in love with her and made a plot to
get possession of her. So when the centre post had
been planted and still no water came he said "We
must see what sacrifice is required to make the water
come. I have animals of all kinds; one by one they
shall be offered and you shall sing and dedicate them."
So first an elephant was led down into the bed of the
tank and the people sang
"Tank, we will sacrifice to you an elephant
"Let clear water bubble up, O tank."
but no water came.
Then they led down a horse and sang a similar song,
but no water came; and then in succession a camel, a
donkey, a cow, a buffalo, a goat and a sheep were
offered but no water came ; and so they stopped. Then
the Raja asked why they stopped and they said that
they had no more animals. Then the Raja bade them
sing a song dedicating a man, to see if that would bring
the water; so they sang and as they sang water bubbled
up everywhere from the bottom of the tank and then
the coolies were stricken with fear for they did not
know which of them would be sacrificed.
But the Raja sent his soldiers and they seized Kuwar
and bound him to the post in the middle of the tank;
70 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and then a song was sung dedicating him to the tank
and as the water rose around him the princess wept
bitterly ; but the Raja said "Do not cry I will arrange for
your support and will give you part of my kingdom and
you shall live in my palace." The princess said" Yes:
hereafter I may stay with you, but let me now watch
Kuwar till he is drowned;" so Kuwar fixed his eyes on
the princess and tears streamed down his face until the
waters rose and covered him ; and the princess also gazed
at him till he was drowned. Then the Raja's soldiers told
her to come with them and she said " Yes, I am coming,
but let me first offer a libation of water to my dead
husband ; " and on this pretext she went into the water
and then she darted to the place where Kuwar had
been bound and sank beneath the surface. The Raja
bade men rescue her but all were afraid to enter the
water and she was seen no more. Then the Raja gave
all the coolies a feast and scattered money among the
crowd and dismissed them. And this is the end of
the story.
XVin. THE LAUGHING FISH.
There was once a merchant who prospered in his
business and in the course of time became very rich.
He had five sons but none of them was married. In
the village where he lived was an old tank which was
half silted up and he resolved to clean it out and
deepen it, if the Raja would give it to him ; so he went
to the Raja and the Raja said that he could have the
tank if he paid forty rupees. The merchant paid the
money and then went home and called his family
together and said that they would first improve the
tank and then find wives for all his sons. The sons
agreed and they collected coolies and drained off the
water and began to dig out the silt. When they had
THE LAUGHING FISH 71
drained off the water they found in the bed of the
tank a number of big fish of unknown age: which
they caught and two of them they sent to the Raja
as a present. When the fish were carried into the
presence of the Raja they both began to laugh: then
the Raja said "What is the meaning of this? Here
are two dead fish, why are they laughing?" And he
told the men who brought the fish to explain what was
the matter or else to take them away again. But they
could give no explanation. Then the Raja called all
his officers and astrologers and asked them what they
thought it meant: but no one could give him any
answer. Then the Raja told the men to take the fish
away again, and to tell the merchant that, if he could
not explain why the fish laughed, he would kill him
and all his descendants; and he wrote a letter to the
same effect, and fixed a day by which the merchant
was to explain the matter. When the merchant read
the letter he fell into the greatest distress and for two
or three days he could not make up his mind whether
to go on with the work on the tank or no; but in the
end he resolved to finish it so that his name might be
held in remembrance. So they finished the work and
then the merchant said to his sons : " My sons I cannot
arrange for your marriages, for the Raja has threatened
to kill us all, if I cannot explain why the fish laughed ;
you must all escape from here so that our family may
not die out;" but the younger sons all answered "We
are not able to take care of ourselves, either you come
with us to protect us or we will stay here." Then the
merchant told his eldest son to escape alone so that
their family might not become extinct.
So the eldest son took a supply of money and went
away into a far country. After travelling a long time he
came to a town where a Raja lived and decided to stay
there; so he first went to a tank and bathed and sat
72 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
down on the bank to eat some refreshment; and as he
sat the daughter of the Raja came down to the tank
to bathe and she saw the merchant's son and their eyes
met. Then the princess sent her maidservants to ask him
where he came from ; and he told them where he came
from and that he meant to make a stay in that town,
and he promised them a rupee if they could persuade
the princess to uncover her face. They went and told
their mistress all this and she answered "Go and get
your rupee from him, I will uncover my face; and ask
him what he wants." And when they went, she drew
aside the cloth from her face; then he gave them the
rupee, and they asked him whether he had seen her
and what his intention was; then he said that his
wish was to marry the princess and live with her in
her father's house! When the princess heard this she
said " Yes, my heart has gone out to him also ; " so
then she bathed and went home and lay down in her
room and would not get up, and when her father asked
her what was the matter, she made no answer. Then
they asked her maidens what was the matter and they
said that she had seen a stranger by the tank and
wished to marry him. The Rani asked whether the
stranger was still there and they said that they had
left him by the tank. So two men were sent to fetch
the stranger or to find out where he had gone. The
two servants went and found the merchant's son just
ready to continue his journey, and they asked him who
he was and what he wanted. He said that he was
looking for employment but would like best to marry
and live in the house of his father-in-law. Then they
told him not go away and they would arrange such a
marriage for him, so they took him to a house in the
town and left him there and went back to the Raja.
They told the Raja that the stranger had gone away
but that they could follow him and bring him back if
THE LAUGHING FISH 73
he gave them some money for their journey. So the
Raja gave them two rupees ; then they went off but
only ate their dinner at home, and then they brought
the merchant's son to the Raja, pretending that they
had overtaken him a long way off. He was questioned
about himself and he told his whole history except
that the Raja had threatened to cut off his family, and
his account being satisfactory it was arranged that he
should marry the princess. Musicians were sent for and
the marriage took place at once. After his marriage
the merchant's son was much depressed at the thought
of his brothers' fate and in the middle of the night he
used to rise up and weep till the bed was soaked with
his tears; the princess noticed this and one night she
pretended to go to sleep but really lay awake and
watched her husband; and in the middle of the night
saw him rise quietly and begin to sob. She was filled
with sympathy and went to him and begged him to
tell her what was the matter and whether he was sorry
that he had married her; and he answered "I cry
because I am in despair; in the daytime I restrain my
tears before others with difficulty but in the night they
cannot be kept back; but I am ashamed for you to see
me and I wait till you are asleep before I give way to
my feelings."
Then she asked what was the cause of his sorrow
and he answered "My father and mother and brothers
and sisters are all doomed to die; for our Raja has
sworn to kill them by a certain day if he is not told
why two fish, which my father sent to him as a present,
laughed when they were brought before him. In con-
sequence of this threat my father sent me from home
that one of the family might survive and although I
may be safe here the thought of them and their fate
makes me weep." The princess asked him what was the
day fixed for the mystery to be explained ; and he told
74 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
her that it was at the full moon of a certain month.
Then the princess said "Come take me to your father's
house: I shall be able to explain why the fishes laughed."
The merchant's son joyfully agreed to start off the next
day; so in the morning they told the Raja why they
wished to go, and he said to his daughter "Go and do
not be afraid; go in confidence, I promise you that
you will be able to explain why the fishes laughed."
So they made ready and journeyed to the merchant's
house; and when they arrived they told the merchant
to go to the Raja and ask him to collect all the citizens
on a certain day to hear the reason why the fishes laughed.
The merchant went to the Raja and the Raja gave him
a letter fixing the day and all the citizens were assem-
bled in an open plain; and the princess dressed herself
as a man and went to the assembly and stood before
the Raja.
Then the Raja bade her explain why the fishes laughed,
and the princess answered "If you wish to know the
reason order all your Ranis to be brought here ; " so
the Ranis were summoned ; then the princess said " The
reason why the fishes laughed was because among all
your wives it is only the eldest Rani who is a woman
and all the others are men. What will you give me if
this is not proved to be true?" Then the Raja wrote a
bond promising to give the merchant half his kingdom
if this were proved to be true. When enquiry was made
it was found that the wives had really become men,
and the Raja was put to shame before all his people.
Then the assembly broke up and the merchant received
half the Raja's kingdom.
XLX. HOW THE COWHERD FOUND A BRIDE.
There was once a Goala who was in charge of a herd
of cattle and every day he used to bring the herd for
HOW THE COWHERD FOUND A BRIDE 75
their midday rest to the foot of a peepul tree. One day
the peepul tree spoke and said to him "If you pour
milk every day at my roots I will grant you a boon."
So thenceforward the Goala every day poured milk at
the roots of the tree and after some days he saw a
crack in the ground; he thought that the roots of the
tree were cracking the earth but the fact was that a
snake was buried there, and as it increased in size from
drinking the milk it cracked the ground and one day
it issued forth; at the sight of it the Goala was filled
with fear and made sure that the snake would devour
him. But the snake said " Do not fear : I was shut up
in the nether world, and you by your kindness have
rescued me. I wish to show gratitude to you and will
confer on you any boon for which you ask." The Goala
answered that the snake should choose what he would
give him; then the snake called him near, and breathed
on his hair which was very long and it became glistening
as gold, and the snake said that his hair would obtain
for him a wife and that he would be very powerful;
and that whatever he said would come to pass. The
Goala asked what sort of things would come to pass.
The snake answered "If you say a man shall die he will
die and if you say he shall come to life, he will come
to life. But you must not tell this to anyone ; not even
to your wife when you marry ; if you do the power
will vanish."
Some time afterwards it happened that the Goala was
bathing in the river ; and as he bathed one of his hairs
came out and the fancy took him to wrap it in a leaf
and set it to float down the stream. Lower down the
river a princess was bathing with her attendants and they
saw the packet come floating down and tried to stop it
but it floated straight to the princess and she caught it
and opened it and found the hair inside. It shone like
gold and when they measured it, it was twelve fathoms
76 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
long. So the princess tied it up in her cloth and went
home and shut herself up in her room, and would neither
eat nor drink nor speak. Her mother sent two of her
companions to question her, and at last she told them
that she would not rise and eat until they found the
person to whom the golden hair belonged ; if it were
the hair of a man he should be her husband and if it
came from a girl she would have that girl come and
live with her.
When the Raja and Rani heard this and that the hair
had come floating down the river they went to their
daughter and told her that they would at once send
messengers up the stream to find the owner of the hair.
Then she was comforted and rose up and ate her rice.
That very day the Raja ordered messengers to follow
up the banks of the stream and enquire in all the villages
and question every one they met to find trace of the
owner of the golden hair ; so the messengers set out on
both banks of the stream and followed it to its source
but their search was vain and they returned without
news ; then holy mendicants were sent out to search and
they also returned unsuccessful. Then the princess said
" If you cannot find the owner of the golden hair I will
hang myself 1 " At this a tame crow and a parrot which
were chained to a perch, said " You will never be able
to find the man with the golden hair ; he is in the depths
of the forest; if he had lived in a village you would
have found him, but as it is we alone can fetch him ;
unfasten our chains and we will go in search of him."
So the Raja ordered them to be unfastened and gave
them a good meal before starting, for they could not
carry a bag of provisions with them like a man. Then the
crow and the parrot mounted into the air and flew away
up the river, and after long search they spied the
Goala in the jungle resting his cattle under the peepul
tree; so they flew down and perched on the peepul
HOW THE COWHERD FOUND A BRIDE 77
tree and consulted how they could lure him away. The
parrot said that he was afraid to go near the cattle
and proposed that the crow should fly down and carry
off the Goala's flute, from where it was lying with his
stick and wrapper at the foot of the tree. So the crow
went flitting from one cow to another till it suddenly
pounced on the flute and carried it ofl" in its beak;
when the Goala saw this he ran after the crow to recover
his flute and the crow tempted him on by just flut-
tering from tree to tree and the Goala kept following;
and when the crow was tired the parrot took the flute
from him and so between them they drew the Goala
on right to the Raja's city, and they flew into the
palace and the Goala followed them in, and they flew
to the room in which the princess was and dropped the
flute into the hand of the princess and the Goala fol-
lowed and the door was shut upon him. The Goala
asked the princess to give him the flute and she said
that she would give it to him if he promised to marry
her and not otlierwise. He asked how he could marry her
all of a sudden when they had never been betrothed ; but
the princess said "We have been betrothed for a long
time ; do you remember one day tying a hair up in a
leaf and setting it to float downstream; well that hair
has been the go-between which arranged our betrothal."
Then the Goala remembered how the snake had told
him that his hair would find him a wife and he asked
to see the hair which the princess had found, so she
brought it out and they found that it was like his, as
long and as bright; then he said "We belong to each
other" and the princess called for the door to be
opened and brought the Goala to her father and mother
and told them that her heart's desire was fulfilled and
that if they did not allow the wedding to take place in
the palace she would run away with the Goala. So a
day was fixed for the wedding and invitations were
78 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
issued and it duly took place. The Goala soon became
so much in love with his bride that he forgot all about
his herd of cattle which he had left behind, without
any one to look after them; but after some time he
bethought himself of them and he told his bride that
he must return to his cattle, whether she came with him
or no. She said that she would take leave of her
parents and go with him; then the Raja gave them a
farewell feast and he made over to the Goala half his
kingdom, and gave him a son's share of his elephants
and horses and flocks and herds and said to him " You
are free to do as you like : you can stay here or go
to your own home; but if you elect to stay here, I
shall never turn you out." The Goala considered and
said that he would live with his father-in-law but that
he must anyhow go and see the cattle which he had
abandoned without any one to look after them. So the
next day he and his wife set off and when they got to
the jungle they found that all the cattle were lying
dead. At this the Goala was filled with grief and began
to weep ; then he remembered the promise of the snake
that he should be able to restore the dead to life and
he resolved to put it to the test.
So he told his wife that he would give the dead cows
medicine and he got some jungle roots as a blind and
held them to the noses of the dead animals and as he
did so, he said "Come to life" and, behold, one by one
the cows all got up and began lowing to their calves.
Having thus proved the promises of the snake the
Goala was loud in his gratitude and he filled a large
vessel with milk and poured it all out at the foot of
the peepul tree and the snake came and breathed on
the hair of the princess and it too became bright as gold.
The next day they collected all the cows and drove
them back to the princess' home and there the Coala
and his wife lived happily, ruling half the kingdom. And
KARA AND GUJA 79
some years after the Goala reflected that the snake was
to him as his father and mother and yet he had come
away in a hurry without taking a proper farewell, so
he went to see whether it was still there ; but he couM
not find it and he asked the peepul tree and no answer
came so he had to return home disappointed.
XX. KARA AND GUJA.
Once upon a time there were two brothers named
Kara and Guja who were first class shots with the bow
and arrow. In the country where they lived, a pair of
kites were doing great damage: they had young ones
in a nest in a tree and used to carry off children to
feed their nestlings until the whole country was desolated.
So the whole population went in a body to the Raja
and told him that they would have to leave the country
if he could not have the kites killed. Then the Raja
made proclamation that any one who could kill the two
kites should receive a large tract of land as a reward,
and thereupon many men tried to kill them; but the
kites had made their nest of ploughs and clod-crushers
so that the arrows could not hit them, and the shooters
had to give up the attempt. At last Kara and Guja
thought that they would try, so they made an ambush
and waited till the birds came to the nest to feed their
young and then shot them both through the hole in a
clod-crusher into which the pole fits, and the two kites
fell down dead, at the source of the Ganges and Jumna,
and where they fell they made a great depression in
the ground. Then Kara and Guja carried the bodies
to the Raja and he gave them a grant of land ; and
their grateful neighbours made a large rice field of the
depression which the kites had made in the earth and
this was given to Kara and Guja as service land to
their great delight.
8o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Kara and Guja used to spend their time in the forest,
living on what they could find there; they slept in a
cave and at evening would cook their rice there or
roast jungle roots. One day a tiger spied them out
as they were roasting tubers and came up to them
suddenly and said. "What are you cooking? Give
me some or I will eat you." So while they went on
eating the roasted tubers, they threw the coals from
the fire to the tiger at the mouth of the cave and he
crunched them up and every now and then they threw
him a bit of something good to eat; the tiger would
not go away but lay there expecting to be fed, and
Kara and Guja debated how to get rid of him. Then
Guja suddenly jumped up and dashed at the tiger and
caught him by the tail and began to twist the tail and
he went on twisting until he twisted it right off and
the tiger ran roaring away. Kara and Guja roasted the
tail and ate it, and they found it so nice that they
decided to hunt the tiger and eat the rest of him. So
the two brothers searched for him everywhere and
when they found him they chased him until they ran
him down and killed him ; then they lit a fire and
singed the hair off and roasted the flesh and made a
grand meal: but they did not eat the paunch. Kara
wanted to eat it but Guja would not let him, so Kara
carried it away on his shoulder.
Presently they sat down in the shade of a banyan tree
by the side of a road and along the road came a Raja's
wedding procession ; when Kara and Guja saw this they
climbed into the tree and took the tiger's paunch up with
them. The wedding party came to a halt at the foot of
the tree and some of them lay down to eat and the Raja
got out of his palki and lay down to sleep in the shade.
After a time Kara got tired of holding the tiger's paunch
in his arms and whispered to Guja that he could hold
it no longer. Guja told him on no account to let it go
THE MAGIC COW 8i
but at last Kara got so tired that he let it fall right on
the top of the Raja; then all the Raja's attendants
raised a shout that the Raja's stomach had burst and
all ran away in a panic leaving everything they had
under the tree ; but after they had gone a little distance
they thought of the goods they had left behind and
how they could not continue the journey without them,
so they made their way back to the banyan tree.
But meanwhile Kara and Guja had climbed down and
gathered together all the fine clothes and everything
valuable and taken them up into the tree. And Kara
took up a large drum which he found and in one end
of the drum he made a number of little holes: and he
caught a number of wild bees which had a nest in the
tree and put them one by one into the drum. When
the Raja's attendants came back and saw that there
were two men in the tree, they called out: "Why
have you dishonoured our Raja? We will kill you."
Kara and Guja answered "Come and see who will do
the killing." So they began to fight and the Raja's
men fired their guns at Kara and Guja till they were
tired of shooting, and had used up all their powder
and shot, but they never hit them. Then Kara and
Guja called out "Now it is our turn!" And when the
Raja's men saw that Kara and Guja had nothing but
a drum they said "Yes, it is your turn." So Kara
and Guja beat the drum and called " At them, my
dears : at them my dears." And the wild bees flew out of
the drum and stung the Raja's men and drove them right
away. Then Kara and Guja took all their belongings
and went home and ever after were esteemed as great
Rajas because of the wealth which they had acquired.
XXI. THE MAGIC COW.
There was once a Raja who had an only son named
Kara and in the course of time the Raja fell into poverty
6
82 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and was little better than a beggar. One day when Kara
was old enough to work as a cowherd his father called
him and said " My son, I am now poor but once I was
rich. I had a fine estate and herds of cattle and fine
clothes; now that is all gone and you have scarcely
enough to eat. I am old and like to die and before I
leave you I wish to give you this advice: there are
many Rajas in the world, Raja above Raja; when I am
dead do you seek the protection of some powerful Raja."
As there was not enough to eat at home Kara had
to take service as goat-herd under a neighbouring Raja ;
by which he earned his food and clothes and two rupees
a year. Some time afterwards his father died and Kara
went to his master and asked for a loan of money with
which to perform his father's funeral ceremonies, and
promised to continue in his service until he had worked
off the loan. So the Raja advanced him five rupees and
five rupees worth of rice, and with this money Kara gave
the funeral feast. Five or six days later his mother died,
and he again went to the Raja and asked for ten rupees
more ; at first the Raja refused but Kara besought him
and promised to serve him for his whole life if he could
not repay the loan. So at last the Raja lent him ten rupees
more, and he gave the funeral feast. But the Raja's seven
sons were very angry with their father because he had
lent twenty rupees to a man who had no chance of paying,
and they used to threaten and worry Kara because he
had taken the money. Then Kara remembered how his
father had said that there were many Rajas in the world,
Raja above Raja, and he resolved to run away and seek
service with the greatest Raja in the world. So he ran
away and after travelling some distance he met a Raja
being carried in a palki and going with a large party to
fetch a bride for his son; and when he heard who it
was he decided to follow the Raja; so he went along
behind the palki and at one place a she-jackal ran
THE MAGIC COW 83
across the road; then the Raja got out of his palki
and made a salaam to the jackal. When Kara saw this
he thought "This cannot be the greatest Raja in the
world or why should he salaam to the jackal. The
jackal must be more powerful than the Raja; I will
follow the jackal." So he left the wedding party and
went after the jackal; now the jackal was hunting for
food for her young ones, and as Kara followed her
wherever she went she could find no opportunity of
killing a goat or sheep; so at last she went back to
the cave in which she lived. Then her cubs came
whining to meet her and she told her husband that
she had been able to catch nothing that day because
a man had followed her wherever she went, and had
come right up to their cave and was waiting outside.
Then the he-jackal told her to ask what the man wanted.
So she went out to Kara and asked him and Kara
said "I have come to place myself under your pro-
tection ; " then she called the he-jackal and they said
to him, "We are jackals and you are a man. How can
you stay with us; what could we give you to eat and
what work could we find for you to do?" Kara said
that he would not leave them as all his hopes lay in
them; and at last the jackals took pity on him and
consulted together and agreied to make him a gift as
he had come to them so full of hope ; so they gave
him a cow which was in the cave, and said to him:
"As you have believed in us we have made up our
minds to benefit you; take this cow, she will supply
you with everything you want; if you address her as
mother she will give you whatever you ask, but do
not ask her before people for they would take her
from you; and do not give her away whatever induce-
ments are offered you."
Then Kara thanked them and called down blessings
on their heads and took the cow and led it away
84 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
homewards. When he came to a tank he thought he
would bathe and eat ; while he bathed he saw a woman
washing clothes at the other side of the tank but he
thought that she would not notice him, so he went
up to the cow and said " Mother, give me a change
of clothes." Thereupon the cow vomited up some nice
new clothes and he put them on and looked very
fine. Then he asked tlie cow for some plates and
dishes and she gave them ; then he asked for some
bread and some dried rice, and he ate all he wanted
and then asked the cow to keep the plates and dishes
for him; and the cow swallowed them up again.
Now the woman by the tank had seen all that had
happened and ran home and told her husband what she
had seen and begged him to get hold of the wonderful
cow by some means or other. Her husband could not
believe her but agreed to put it to the test, so they both
went to Kara and asked where he was going and offered
to give him supper, and put him up for the night and
give grass for his cow. He accepted this invitation and
went with them to their house and they gave him the
guest-room to sleep in and asked what he would have
to eat, but he said that he did not want any supper, —
for he intended to get a meal from the cow after every
one was asleep. Then the man and his wife made a
plot and pretended to have a violent quarrel and after
abusing each other for some time the man flung out of
the house in a passion and pretended to run away;
but after going a short distance he crept back quietly
to the guest-room. Hanging from the roof was the body
of a cart and he climbed up into that and hid himself,
without Kara knowing anything about it. When Kara
thought that every one was asleep, he asked his cow
for some food and having made a good meal went to
sleep.
The man watching up above saw everything and
THE MAGIC COW 83
found that his wife had spoken the truth ; so in the
middle of the night he climbed down and led away
Kara's magic cow and put in its place one of his own
cows of the same colour. Early the next morning
Kara got up and unfastened the cow and began to lead
it away, but the cow would not follow him; then he
saw that it had been changed and he called his host
and charged him with the theft. The man denied it and
told him to call any villagers who had seen him bring
his cow the day before ; now no one had seen him come
but Kara insisted that the cow had been changed and
went to summon the village headman and the villagers
to decide the matter: but the thief managed to give a
bribe of one hundred rupees to the headman and one
hundred rupees to the villagers and made them promise
to decide in his favour ; so when they met together they
told Kara that he must take the cow which he had
found tied up in the morning.
Kara protested and said that he would fetch the
person from whom he had got the cow and take
whichever cow he pointed out. Telling them that they
were responsible for his cow while he was away, he
hastened off to the cave where the jackals lived. The
jackals somehow knew that he had been swindled out
of the cow, and they met him saying " Well, man, have
you lost your cow?" And he answered that he had
come to fetch them to judge between himself and the
villagers: so the jackals went with him and he went
straight to the headman and told him to collect all the
villagers; meanwhile the jackals spread a mat under a
peepul tree and sat on it chewing pan and when the
villagers had assembled the jackal began to speak, and
said: "If a judge takes a bribe his descendants for
several generations, shall eat filth, in this world and the
next; but if he make public confession, then he shall
escape this piinishment. This is what our forefathers have
86 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
said ; and the man who defrauds another shall be thrust
down into hell: this also they have said. Now all of
you make honest enquiry into this matter ; we will swear
before God to do justice and the complainant and the
accused shall also take oath and we will decide fairly."
Then the village headman was conscience stricken and
admitted that he had taken a bribe of one hundred
rupees, and the villagers also confessed that they had
been bribed; then the jackal asked the accused what he
had to say to this: but he persisted that he had not
changed the cow; the jackal asked him what penalty
he would pay if he were proved guilty and he said that
he would pay double. Then the jackal called the villagers
to witness that the man had fixed his punishment, and
he proposed that he and his wife should go to the herd
of cattle, and if they could pick out the cow that Kara
claimed it would be sure proof that it was his. So the
jackals went and at once picked out the cow, and the
villagers were astonished and cried, "This is a just
judgment 1 They have come from a distance and have
recognised the cow at once." The man who had stolen
it had no answer to give; then the jackal said: "You
yourself promised to pay double; you gave a bribe of
one hundred rupees to the headman and one hundred
rupees to the villagers and the cow you stole is worth
two hundred rupees that is four hundred rupees, therefore
you must pay a fine of eight hundred rupees ; and the
man was made to produce eight hundred rupees and
the jackal gave all the money to the villagers except
ten rupees which he gave to Kara ; and he kept nothing
for himself.
Then Kara and the jackals went away with the cow,
and after getting outside the village the jackals again
warned Kara not to ask the cow for anything when
anyone was by and took their leave of him and went
home. Kara continued his journey and at evening
THE MAGIC COW 87
arrived at a large mango orchard in which a number
of carters were camping for the night. So Kara stopped
under a tree at a little distance from the carters and
tied his cow to the root. Soon a storm came up and
the carters all took shelter underneath their carts and
Kara asked his cow for a tent and he and the cow
took shelter in it. It rained hard all night and in the
morning the carters saw the tent and wondered where
it came from, and came to the conclusion that the cow
must have produced it ; so they resolved to steal the cow.
Kara did not dare to make the cow swallow the tent
in the day time while the carters were about, so he
stayed there all the next day and at night the cow put
away the tent. Then when Kara was asleep some
carters came and took away the cow and put in its
place a cow with a calf, and they hid the magic cow
within a wall of packs from their pack bullocks. In
the morning Kara at once saw what had happened and
went to the carters and charged them with the theft;
they denied all knowledge of the matter and told him
he might look for his cow if he liked ; so he searched
the encampment but could not see it.
Then he called the village headman and chowkidar
and they searched and could not find the cow and
they advised Kara to keep the cow and calf as it
must be better than his own barren cow ; but he refused
and said that he would complain to the magistrate and
he made the headman promise not to let the carters
go until he came back. So he went to a Mahommedan
magistrate and it chanced that he was an honest man
who gave just judgments and took no bribes, and made
no distinction between the rich and the poor; he always
listened to both sides carefully, not like some rascally
magistrates who always believe the story that is first
told them and pay no attention to what the other side
say. So when Kara made his complaint this magistrate
88 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
at once sent for the carters and the carters swore that
they had not stolen the cow: and offered to forfeit all
the property they had with them, if the cow were found
in their possession.
Then the magistrate sent police to search the encamp-
ment and the police pulled down the pile of packs that
had been put round the cow, and found the cow inside
and took it to the magistrate. Then the magistrate
ordered the carters to fulfil their promise and put them
all in prison and gave all their property to Kara. So
Kara loaded all the merchandise on the carts and pack
bullocks and went home rejoicing. At first the villagers
did not recognise who it was who had come with so
much wealth but Kara made himself known to them
and they were very astonished and helped him to build
a grand house. Then Kara went to the Raja from
whom he had borrowed the money for his parents'
funerals and paid back what he owed. The Raja was
so pleased with him that he gave him his daughter in
marriage and afterwards Kara claimed his father-in-law's
kingdom and got possession of it and lived prosperously
ever after.
And the seven sons of his first master who used to
scold him were excited by his success and thought that
if they went to foreign parts they also could gain great
wealth; so they took some money from their father
and went off. But all they did was to squander their
capital and in the end they had to come back penniless
to their father.
XXIL LITA AND HIS ANIMALS.
Once upon a time there was a man who had four
sons : two of them were married and two were unmarried
and the youngest was named Lita. One day Lita went
to his father and asked for fifty or sixty rupees that
LITA AND HIS ANIMALS 89
he might go on a trading expedition and he promised
that if he lost the money he would not ask for any
share in the paternal property. As he was very urgent
his father at last gave him sixty rupees and he set out
on his travels. After going some way he came to a
village in which all the inhabitants were chasing a cat;
he asked them what was the matter and they told him
that the cat was always stealing their Raja's milk and
the Raja had offered a reward of twenty rupees to
anyone who would kill it. Then Lita said to them
"Do not kill the cat; catch it alive and give it to me
and I will pay you twenty rupees for it; then you can
go to the Raja and say that you have killed it and
ask for the reward; and if the Raja asks to see the
body tell him that a stranger came and asked for the
body, for he thought that a cat which had fed on milk
should be good eating and so you gave it to him."
The villagers thought that this would be an excellent
plan and promised to bring him the cat alive. They
soon managed to catch it hiding under a heap of firewood
and brought it to Lita and he paid them twenty rupees
and then they went to the Raja and got twenty rupees
from him.
Then Lita went on, and by-and-bye came to a village
where the villagers were hunting an otter in a tank;
they had made a cut in the bank and had let out all
the water. Lita went to them and asked what they were
doing: they said that they were hunting for an otter
which had been destroying the Raja's fish and the Raja
had promised them a reward if they killed it, and they
had driven it into the tank and were draining off the
water in order to catch it. Then Lita offered to buy it
of them if they brought it to him alive ; so when they
caught it they brought it to him and he gave them
money for it and continued his journey with the cat
and the otter. Presently he saw a crowd of men and
90 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
he went up to them and asked what they were doing:
and they told him that they were hunting a rat which
was always gnawing the Raja's pens and papers and
the Raja had offered a reward for it, and they had
driven it out of the palace, but it had taken refuge in a
hole and they were going to dig it out. Then Lita
offered to buy it from them as he had bought the other
two animals and they dug it out and sold it to him.
He went on and in the same way found a crowd of
men hunting a snake which had bitten many people:
and he offered to buy it for twenty rupees and when they
had chased it till it was exhausted, they caught it alive
and sold it to Lita. As his money was all spent, he then
set off homewards ; and on the way the snake began to
speak and said: "Lita, you have saved my life; had you
not come by, those men would certainly have had my
life; come with me to my home, where my father and
mother are, and I will give you anything you ask for;
we have great possessions." But Lita was afraid and
said : " When you get me there you will eat me, or if
you don't, your father and mother will." But the snake
protested that it could not be guilty of such ingratitude
and at last Lita agreed to accompany it when he had
left the other animals at his home.
This he did and set off alone with the snake, and after
some days they reached the snake's home. The snake told
Lita to wait outside while he went and apprized his parents
and he told Lita- that when he was asked to choose his
reward he should name nothing but the ring which was on
the father-snake's finger, for the ring had this property
that if it were placed in a seer of milk and then asked to
produce anything whatever, that thing would immediately
appear. Then the snake went on to his home and when
the father and mother saw him they fell on his neck
and kissed him and wept over him saying that they had
never expected to see him again ; the snake told them
LITA AND HIS ANIMALS 91
how he had gone to the country of men and how a
reward had been set on his head and he had been
hunted, and how Lita had bought him from the men
who would have killed him. The father snake asked
why he had not brought Lita to be rewarded and the
snake said that he was afraid that when they saw him
they would eat him.
But the father and mother swore that they could not
be guilty of such ingratitude, and when he heard this the
snake went and brought in Lita, and they entertained him
handsomely for two days ; and on the third day the father
snake asked Lita what he would take as his reward. Lita
looked round at the shining palace in which they lived
and at first was afraid to speak but at last he said : " I do
not want money or anything but the ring on your finger :
if you will not give me that, I will take nothing ; I saved
your son from peril and that you will remember all your
lives, and if you give me the ring I will honour you for
it as long as I live." Then the father and mother snake
consulted together and the mother said " Give it to him
as he asks for it" so the father snake drew it from his
finger and gave it to Lita and they gave him also some
money for his journey back; and he went home and
found the other three animals safe and sound waiting
for him.
After a time his father said that Lita must marry ; so
marriage go-betweens were sent out to look for a bride
and they found a very rich and beautiful girl whose
parents were agreeable to the match. But the girl her-
self said that she would only marry a man who would
build a covered passage from her house to his, so that
she could walk to her new home in the shade. The
go-betweens reported this, and Lita's father and brothers
consulted and agreed that they could never make such
a passage, but Lita said to his father: "Arrange the
match; it shall be my charge to arrange for making
92 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the covered passage ; I will not let you be put to shame
over it." For Lita had already put the ring to the test :
he had dropped it into a seer of milk and said -'Let
five bharias of parched rice and two bharias of curds
appear" and immediately the parched rice and curds
were before him ; and thereupon he had called out " The
snake has worthily rewarded me for saving his life;"
and the cat and the otter and the rat overheard what
he said.
So the go between was told to arrange for the wed-
ding to take place that very month, as Lita's birthday
fell in. the next month, which therefore was not suitable
for his wedding. Then the bride's family sent him back
to say that they were prepared to send a string of nine
knots; and the next day the go-between told this to
Lita's family and they said that they were willing to
accept it; so the go-between brought a string of nine
knots to signify that the wedding would take place in
nine days. The days passed by and Lita's father and
brothers became very anxious because they saw no sign
of the covered passage; but on the very night before
the wedding, Lita took his ring and ordered a covered
passage to be made from the one house to the other
with a good path down the middle ; and the next morning
they found it made ; and the bridegroom's party passed
along it to the bride's house and the bride was escorted
home along it.
Now the bride had been deeply in love with another
young man who lived in her village and had much
wished to marry him but her wishes of course were not
consulted in the matter. Some time after the marriage
she one day in the course of conversation asked her
husband Lita how much he had spent on making the
covered passage to her house and how he had built it so
quickly. He told her that he knew nothing about it; that
his father and mother had arranged for it and no doubt
LITA AND HIS ANIMALS 93
had spent a large sum of money. So the next day she
took an opportunity of asking her mother-in-law about
it, but Lita's mother said that nothing had been spent
at all; somehow the passage had been made in one
night, she knew not how.
Then Lita's wife saw that Lita was keeping a secret
from her, and she began to reproach him for having
any secrets from his wife : and at last when she had
faithfully promised never to reveal the matter to anyone,
he told her the secret of the ring. Now her former
lover used still to visit her and one day she sent for
him and said that she would no longer live with Lita,
but wished to run away with him. The lover at first
objected that they would be pursued and killed while
if they escaped to a distance he would have nothing
to support her with; but the faithless woman said that
there need be no anxiety about that and she told
him about the magic ring and how by means of it
they could provide themselves with a house and every-
thing they wanted. So they fixed a night for the elope-
ment and on that night when Lita was asleep his wife
quietly drew the ring off his finger and went out to her
lover who was waiting outside and told him to get a
goat from the pen; then they beheaded the goat and
went inside and poured all its blood on the ground
under the bed on which Lita was sleeping, and then
having hid the body and head of the goat, they ran away.
Towards morning Lita woke up and missed his wife,
so he lit a lamp to look for her and then saw the pool
of blood under the bed. At this sight he was terror
stricken. Some enemy had killed and carried off his wife
and he would be charged with the murder. So he lay
there wondering what would happen to him. At last
his mother came into the room to see why he and his
wife had not got up as usual and when she saw the
blood she raised a cry ; the village headman and chow-
94 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
kidar were sent for and they questioned Lita, but he
could only say that he knew nothing of what had happened*
he did not know what the blood was, he did not know
where his wife was. Thereupon they sent two men to
the house of the wife's parents to see if by any chance
she had run away there and in any case to bring her
relations to be present at the enquiry into her disappear-
ance. When her father and brothers heard what had
happened they at once went to Lita's house in wrath and
abused him as a murderer. They asked why, if his wife
had not done her duty to him, he had not sent her back
to them to be chastised and taught better, instead of
murdering her and they went straight to the magistrate
and complained : the magistrate sent police who arrested
Lita and took him before the magistrate.
Meanwhile it had become known that not only was
Lita's wife missing but also her lover ; and Lita's father
presented a petition to the magistrate bringing this to
notice and asserting that the two must have run away
together. Then the magistrate ordered every search to be
made for the missing couple but said that Lita must remain
in custody till they were found, so he was shut up in prison.
From prison he made an appUcation to the magistrate
that his three tame animals, the cat and the otter and
the rat might be brought to the place where he was;
the magistrate kindly consented but the animals were
not allowed into the prison. However at night the rat
being small made its way inside and found out Lita, and
asked what was to be done. Lita said that he wanted
the three animals to save him from his great danger as
he had saved them ; he wanted them to trace his wife
and her lover and recover the ring ; they would doubtless
find them living in some gorgeous palace, the gift of
the ring.
The rat went out and gave the other two Lita's
message and they readily undertook to do their best;
LITA AND HIS ANIMALS 95
so the next morning the three animals set oflf. In vain
they hunted all over the country, till one day they
came to the bank of the Ganges and there on the other
side they saw a palace shining like gold. At this their
hopes revived, for this might be a palace made by the
magic ring. But the cat and the rat objected that they
could not cross the river. The otter said that he would
easily manage that and he took the cat on his back
and the rat climbed on to the back of the cat and so
the otter ferried them both across the river; then they
consulted and decided that it would be safest to wait
till the evening before they went to the palace to see
who lived in it. When they looked in in the evening, they
at once recognised Lita's wife and her lover ; but these
two were in constant terror of being pursued and when
they had had their evening meal they fastened and bolted
every entrance so securely that no one could gain ad-
mittance. Then the cat and the otter told the rat that
he must collect all the rats of the neighbourhood and
they must burrow through the wall and find some way
of abstracting the magic ring.
So the rat collected a crowd of his friends and in no
time they bored a hole through the wall ; then they all
began to look for the ring; they hunted high and low
but could not find it; however the cat sat at the
entrance of the hole which they had made and vowed
that they should not come out, unless they got the ring.
Then the first rat climbed on to the bed in which the
couple were sleeping and searched their clothes and
examined their fingers and toes but in vain; then he
thought that the woman might have it in her mouth so
he climbed on to her chest and tickled her nose with
the tip of his tail ; this made her sneeze and behold she
sneezed out the ring which she had hidden in her mouth.
The rat seized it and ran off with it and when the cat
was satisfied that he had really got it, she let him out
96 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and the three friends set off rejoicing on their homeward
journey. They crossed the river in the same way as
when they came with the cat riding on the otter and
the rat on the cat: and the rat held the ring in its
mouth. Unfortunately when they were halfway across,
a kite swooped down to try and carry off the rat.
Twice it swooped and missed its grasp but the second
time it struck the rat with its wing and the rat in terror
let the ring fall into the river.
When they reached the bank the three friends consulted
what they were to do in this fresh misfortune. As the
otter was the only one who could swim it volunteered
to look for the ring, so it plunged into the water and
searched the bottom of the river in vain ; then it guessed
that a fish must have swallowed the ring and it set to
work to catch every fish it saw and tore them open;
at last in the stomach of a big fish it found the ring,
so it brought the fish to the bank and while they were
all rejoicing and eating a little of the fish a kite swooped
down and carried off the fish, ring and all.
The three animals watched the kite flying away with
the fish ; but some women who were gathering firewood
ran after the kite and took the fish from it and putting
it in their basket went home. Then the otter and the
rat said to the cat "Now it is your turn: we have both
recovered the ring once, but we cannot go into the
house of these humans. They will let you go near them
easily enough; the ring is in the fish's stomadi, you
must watch whether they throw away the stomach or
clean it, and find an opportunity for carrying off the ring."
So the cat ran after the women and when they began
to cut up the fish, it kept mewing round them. They
threw one or two scraps to it, but it only sniffed at
them and would not eat them; then they began to
wonder what on earth the cat wanted, and at last they
threw the stomach to it. This it seized on gladly and
THE BOY WHO FOUND HIS FATHER 97
carried it off and tore it open and found the ring and
ran off witli it to where the otter and the rat were
waiting. Then the three friends travelled hard for a day
and a night and reached the prison in which Lita was
confined.
When Lita got the ring he begged his jailer to
get him a seer of milk and when it was brought he
dropped the ring in it, and said " I wish the bed on
which my faithless wife and her lover are sleeping to
be brought here with them in it this very night" and
before morning the bed was brought to the prison. Then
the magistrate was called and when he saw that the
wife was alive he released Lita, and the lover who had
run away with her had to pay Lita double the expen-
diture which had been incurred on his marriage, and
was fined beside.
But Lita married another wife and lived happily with
her. And some time afterwards he called the otter and
the cat and the rat to him and said that he purposed
to let them go and before they parted he would give
them anything they wished for. They said that he owed
them nothing, and they made Lita promise to let them
know if ever he lost the ring or fell into trouble, and
he promised to help them if ever their lives were in
danger, and one morning he took them to a bazar, near
which was a tank full of fish, and he turned the otter
into the tank and left the cat and the rat to support
themselves in the bazar. The next day he went to see
them and the otter came out of the tank and gave him
a fish which it had caught, and the cat brought him some
milk it had stolen, and that was the last he saw of them.
XXHL THE BOY WHO FOUND HIS FATHER.
There was once a boy who used always to cheat when
playing Kati (pitch and toss) and for this the village
7
98 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
boys with whom he played used to quarrel with him,
saying "Fatherless orphan, why do you cheat?" So
one day he asked his mother why they called him that
name and whether his father was really dead. " He is
alive" said she "but a long time ago a rhinoceros carried
him off on its horn." Then the boy vowed that he
would go in search of his father and made his mother
put him up provisions for the journey ; and he started
off taking with him an iron bow and a big bundle of
arrows.
He journeyed on all day and at nightfall he came
to a village ; there he went up to the house of an old
woman to ask for a bed. He stood at the threshhold
and called out to her "Grannie, grannie, open the
door." "I have no son, and no grandchildren to call
me grannie," grumbled the old woman and went to open
the door to see who was there, and when she opened
the door and saw him, she said "Ho, you are my
grandson." "Yes," answered he, " I am your grandchild."
So she called him inside and gave him a bed to sleep
on. The old woman was called Hutibudi; and she
and the boy sat up late talking together and then they
lay down to sleep ; but in the middle of the night he heard
the old woman crunching away trying to bite his bow
to pieces. He asked her what she was eating: "Some
pulse I got from the village headman," "Give me a
little to try" he begged. "I am sorry my child, I have
finished it all." But really she had none to give, how-
ever she only hurt her jaws biting so that she began to
groan with pain: "What are you groaning for. Grannie?"
said the boy; " Because I have toothache " she answered :
and in truth her cheeks were badly swollen. Then he
told her that a good cure for toothache was to bite on
a white stone and she believed him and the next mor-
ning got a piece of white quartz and began to bite on it ;
but this only broke her teeth and made her mouth bleed
THE BOY WHO FOUND HIS FATHER 99
so that the pain was worse than before : then the boy
jeered at her and said. "Did you think, Grannie, that
you could bite my iron bow and arrows?"
So saying he left her and continued the search for his
father and his road led him to a dense jungle which seemed
to have no end, and in the middle of the jungle he came
to a lake and he sat down by it to eat what was left
of the provisions he had brought : as he sat, he suddenly
saw some cow-bison coming down to the lake : at this
he caught up his bow and arrows in a hurry and climbed
up a tall sal tree : from the tree he watched the bison
go down to the water to drink and then go back into
the jungle. And after them tigers and bears came down
to the water: the sight of them frightened him and
he sang: —
"Drink your fill, tiger.
I shall not shoot you.
I shall shoot the giant rhinceros."
and they drank and went away. Then various kinds of
birds came and after them a great herd of rhinceroses and
among them was one which had the dried up body of
the boy's father stuck on its horn. The boy was rather
frightened and sang
"Drink your fill, rhinceroses,
I shall not shoot you
I shall shoot the giant rhinceros."
and when the giant rhinceros with the body of his father
stooped its head to drink from the lake, he put an arrow
through it and it turned a somersault and fell over dead :
while all the other rhinceroses turned tail and ran away.
Then the boy climbed down from the tree and pulled
the dead body of his father off the horn of the dead
animal and laid it down at the foot of a tree and began
to weep over it. As he wept a man suddenly stood
before him and asked what was the matter, and when
100 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
he heard, said "Cry no more: take a cloth and wet it
in the lake and cover your father's body with it: and
then whip the body with a meral twig and he will come
to life." So saying the stranger suddenly disappeared;
and the boy obeyed his instructions and behold his father
sat up alive and rubbing his eyes said "I must have
been asleep a very long time." Then his son explained
to him all that had happened and gave him some food
and took him home.
XXIV. THE OILMAN'S BULLOCK.
There was once a poor but industrious oilman; he
got a log of wood and carved out an oil mill and,
borrowing some money as capital, he bought mustard
and sesame seed and set to work to press it ; as he had
no bullock he had to turn the mill himself. He was
so industrious that he soon began to prosper and was
able to buy a bullock for his mill. By and bye he
got so rich that he was able to buy some land and a
cart and pair of bullocks and was quite a considerable
man in the village. One day one of his cart bullocks
died and this loss was a sad blow to the oilman.
However he tied up the surviving bullock in the stable
along with the old oil mill bullock and fed them well.
One night it chanced that one of the vilagers passed
by the stable and hear the two animals talking and this
is what he heard.
The young bullock said "You came to this house
first, friend; what sort of treatment does one get here?"
"Why do you ask me?" said the other. "Oh, I
see your shoulder is galled and your neck shows mark
of the yoke." The old bullock answered "Whether my
master treats me well or ill I owe him money and have
to stay here until I have paid him off. When I have
paid him five hundred rupees I shall go." " How will
THE OILMAN'S BULLOCK loi
you ever pay back such a sum?" " If my master would
only match me to fight the Raja's elephant for five
hundred rupees I should win the fight and my debt
would be cleared; and if he does not do that I shall
probably have to work for him all my life. How long
do you intend to stay?" "My debt will be cleared if
I work for him two years" answered the new comer.
The man who overheard this conversation was much
astonished and went off to the oilman and told him all
about it. Next day the whole village had heard of it and
they were all anxious for the oilman to match his bullock
against the Raja's elephant; but the oilman was very
frightened, for he feared that if he sent such a challenge,
the Raja would be angry with him and drive him out
of the country. But the leading villagers urged him and
undertook to find the money if he lost, and to persuade
the Raja that the oilman was mad, if he became angry
with him. At last the oilman consented, provided that
some of the villagers went to the Raja and proposed
the match; he was too frightened to go himself. So
two of the village elders went to the Raja and asked
him to match his elephant against the oilman's bullock
for five hundred rupees; the Raja was very much amused
and at once fixed a day for the fight. So they returned
and told the oilman to be ready and raised a subscrip-
tion of five hundred rupees.
The evening before the contest the oilman gave
the bullock a big feed of meal and oilcake; and on
the eventful morning the villagers all collected and
watched him oiling its horns and tying a bell round its
neck. Then the oilman gave the bullock a slap on its
back and said "Take care: you are going to fight an
elephant ; if you owe me so much money you will win,
and if not, then you will be defeated." When he said
this the bullock pawed the ground and snorted and put
down its head.
102 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL FARGANAS
Then they all set out with the five hundred rupees
to a level field near the Raja's palace; a great crowd
collected to see the fun and the Raja went there
expecting easily to win five hundred rupees. The elephant
was brought forward with vermilion on its cheeks, and a
pad on its back, and a big bell round its neck, and a mahout
riding it. The crowd called out "Put down the stakes:"
so each side produced the money and publicly announced
that the owner of the animal which should be victorious
should take all the stakes. But the oilman objected to
the mahout's riding the elephant; no one was going to
ride his bullock. This was seen to be fair and the
mahout had to get off; then the fight began. The
bullock snorted and blew through its nose, and ran at
the elephant with its head lowered. Then the elephant
also rushed forward but the bullock stood its ground
and stamped ; at this the elephant turned tail and ran
away; the bullock ran after it and gored it from behind
until it trumpeted with pain. The crowd shouted "The
Raja's elephant is beaten." And the oilman took the
five hundred rupees and they all went home. From
that day the oilman no longer put the bullock to work
the oil mill but fed it well and left it free to go where
it liked. But the bullock only stayed on with him for
one month and then died.
XXV. HOW SABAI GRASS GREW.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers who
had an only sister. These brothers undertook the ex-
cavation of a large tank ; but although they spent large
sums and dug very deep they could not reach water and
the tank remained dry.
One day as they were consulting what to do to get
the tank to fill, they saw a Jogi coming towards them
with a lota in his hand; they at once called to him to
come and advise them, for they thought that, as he spent
HOW SABAI GRASS GREW 103
his time wandering from country to country, he might
somewhere have learned some thing which would be of
use to them. All the Jogi said to them was " You have
a sister: if you sacrifice her, the tank will fill with
water." The brothers were fond of the girl, but in their
despair at seeing their labour wasted they agreed to
give the advice of the Jogi a trial. So they told their
mother the next day that, when their sister brought them
out their midday meal, she was to be dressed in her best
and carry the rice in a new basket and must bring a
new water pot to draw their water in. At midday the
girl went down to her brothers with her best cloth and
all her jewellry on; and when they saw their victim
coming they could not keep from tears. She asked
them what they were grieving for; they told her that
nothing was the matter and sent her to draw water in
her new water-pot from the dry tank. Directly the girl
drew near to the bank the water began to bubble up
from the bottom ; and when she went down to the
water's edge it rose to her instep. She bent down to
fill her pot but the pot would not fill though the water
rose higher and higher; then she sang: —
"The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my ankle, brother,
But still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
But the water rose to her knees and the pot would
not fill, and she sang: —
"The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my knees, brother.
But still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
Then the water rose to her waist and the pot would
not fill, and she sang: —
"The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my waist, brother,
104 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
But still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
Then the water reached her neck and the pot would
not fill, and she sang: —
The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my neck, brother,
Buf still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
At last it flowed over her head and the water-pot
was filled, but the girl was drowned. The tank however
remained brimful of sparkling water.
Now the unhappy girl had been betrothed and her
wedding day was just at hand. On the day fixed the
marriage broker came to announce the approach of the
bridegroom; who shortly afterwards arrived at the out-
skirts of the village in his palki. The seven brothers
met him, and the usual dancing began.
The bridegroom's party however wished to know why
the bride did not appear. The brothers put them off
with various excuses, saying that the girl had gone with
her friends to gather firewood or to the river to draw
water. At last the bridegroom's party got tired of
waiting and turned to go home in great wrath at the
way in which they had been treated. On their way
they passed by the tank in which the girl had been
sacrificed and, growing in the middle of it, they saw a
most beautiful flower. The bridegroom at once deter-
mined to possess this, and he told his drummers to
pick it for him ; but whenever one of them tried to pick
it, the flower moved out of his reach and a voice came
from the flower saying: —
"Take the flower, drummer,
But the branch you must not break."
and when they told him what the flower sang the bride-
groom said that he would try and pick it himself; no
HOW SABAI GRASS GREW 105
sooner had he reached the bank than the flower of its
own accord floated towards him and he pulled it up by
the roots and took it with him into the palki. After
they had gone a little way the palki bearers felt the
palki strangely heavy : and when they looked in they
found the bride also sitting in it, dressed in yellow
garments; for the flower was really the girl who had
been drowned.
So they joyfully took the happy couple with drumming
and music to the bridegroom's house.
In a short time misfortune befel, the seven brothers ;
they fell into the deepest poverty and were forced to
earn what they could by selling leaves and sticks which
they gathered in the jungle. As they went about selling
these, they one day came to the village where their
sister was living and as they cried their wares through
the streets they were told to go to the house where the
marriage had taken place. They went there, and as
they were selling their leaf plates their sister saw and
recognised them ; they had only ragged loincloths on,
and their skins were black and cracked like a crocodile's.
At the sight their sister began to cry. Her friends
asked what was the matter and she said a straw from
the thatch had run into her eye, so they pulled down
some of the thatch; she still went on crying and they
again asked what was wrong; she said that she had
knocked her foot against a stone in the ground; so
they dug up the stone and threw it away. But she
still went on weeping and at last confessed that the
miserable-looking leaf-sellers were her brothers. Then
her husband's parents told her to be comforted, and
they gave the brothers oil and bade them go and bathe
and oil their bodies : but the brothers were so hungry
that when they got to the bathing place they drank
the oil and ate the oil cake that had been given to
them ; and came back with their skins as rough as when
io6 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
they went. So then they were given more oil and some
of the household went with them and made them bathe
and oil themselves properly and then brought them to
the house and gave them new clothes and made them
a feast of meat and rice. According to the custom of
the country they were made to sit down in order of
age and were helped in that order; when they had all
been helped and had eaten, their sister said to them
"Now brothers you come running to me for food, and
yet you sacrificed me in the tank." Then they were
overwhelmed with shame : they looked up at the sky but
there was no escape there; they looked down at the
earth; and the earth split open and they all ran into
the chasm. The sister tried to catch the youngest
brother by the hair and pull him out, calling "Come
back, brother, come back brother, you shall carry my
baby about for me I " but his hair came off in her hand
and the earth swallowed them all up. Their sister
planted the hair in a corner of the garden and it is said
that from that human hair, sabai grass originated.
XXVL THE MERCHANT'S SON AND THE
RAJA'S DAUGHTER.
Once a merchant's wife and a Raja's wife were both
with child and one day as they bathed together they
fell into conversation, and they agreed that if they both
bore daughters then the girls should be " flower friends "
while if one had a son and one a daughter then the
children should marry : and they committed the agree-
ment to writing. A month or two later the Raja's wife
bore a daughter and the merchant's wife a son. When
the children grew up a bit they were sent to school,
and as they were both very intelligent they soon learnt
to read and write. At the school the boys used to be
taught in an upstairs room and the girls on the ground
THE MERCHANT'S SON ETC. 107
floor. One day the boy wrote out a copy of the agree-
ment which their mothers had made and threw it down
to the girl who was below.
She read it and from that day they began to cor-
respond with each other; love soon followed and they
decided to elope. They fixed a day and they arranged
that the boy should wait for the girl under a turu tree
outside the town. When the evening came the girl
made haste to cook her parents' supper and then, when
they went to bed, she had as usual to soothe them to
sleep by rubbing their limbs; all this took a long time
and the merchant's son soon got tired of waiting, so
he sang to the tree: —
"Be witness be witness for me 'Turu tree'
When the Raja's daughter comes."
and so singing he tied his horse to the roots of the
tree and himself climbed up into the branches, and
sitting in the tree he pulled off and threw down a
number of twigs. Late at night the Raja's daughter
came; she saw the horse tied and the twigs scattered
on the ground, but no other sign of her lover. And at
last she got tired of waiting and called the Turu tree
to witness, singing: —
"Be witness be witness for me 'Turu tree'
When the merchant's son comes."
As she finished her song the merchant's son threw
down a large branch to her, so she looked up and saw
him sitting in the tree. Then she climbed up to him
and began to scold him for putting her to the pain of
waiting so long. He retorted " It was you who made
me anxious by keeping me waiting." "That was not
my fault : you know how much work a woman has to
do. I had to cook the supper and put my parents
to bed and rub them to sleep. Climb down and let
us be off." So they climbed down from the tree and
io8 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
mounted the horse and rode off to a far country. On
the road the girl became very thirsty but in the dense
jungle they could find no water, at last the merchant's
son threw a stone at hazard and they heard it splash
in a pool; so they went in the direction of the sound
and there they found water but it was foul and full of
worms and the girl refused to drink it. She said that she
would only drink water "which had a father and mother."
So they went on their way, and after a time they
came to a number of crows holding a meeting and in
the midst was an owl with its head nodding drowsily;
it was seeing dreams for them ; every now and then a
crow would give it a shove and ask what it had dreamt,
but the owl only murmured that it had not finished
and went off to sleep again. At last it said "I have
seen a gander and a goose go down into a river and
swim about in it,"
The merchant's son and his companion went on and
presently came to a river in full flood, which was quite
uncrossable; on the far bank was a cow lowing to a
calf which had been left on the bank where they were.
When she saw them the girl began to sing: —
"The cow lows for its calf
The calf bleats for its mother:
My father and mother
Are weeping for me at home."
When he heard her lament like this the merchant's
son exclaimed
"You women are all alike, come let us go back."
"How can we go back now?" answered the girl
"You of course can pretend that you have been hunt-
ing ; but we women lose our character if we are hidden
by a bush for a minute."
So as they could not cross the river by themselves,
a goose and gander carried them across on their backs.
As they went on the merchant's son asked the girl
THE MERCHANT'S SON ETC. 109
how far she would like to go, a six days' journey or a
six months' journey. He told her that in the six months'
journey they would only have fruits and roots and such
like to eat and water to drink, but the six days' journey
was easy and free from hardship.
The girl chose the six days' journey, so they went
on for six days and came to a stream on the banks
of which stood a cottage in which lived an old woman.
Before they went up to it the girl told her lover not
to eat any rice given to him by the old woman but to
throw it to the fowls; then they went and asked to be
allowed to cook their food there; now the old woman
had seven unmarried sons, who were away hunting at
the time, and when she saw the Raja's daughter she
wished to detain her and marry her to one of her sons.
So in order to delay them she gave them a damp stove
and green fire-wood to cook with; she also offered the
merchant's son some poisoned rice but he threw it to
the fowls, and when they ate it they fell down dead.
The girl could not make the fire burn with the
green wood, so they hurried away as fast as they could
without waiting to cook any food. Before they started
however the old woman managed to tie up some mustard
seed in a cloth and fasten it to their horse's tail, so that
as they rode, the seed was spilt along the road they
took. When the old woman's sons came back from
hunting she greeted them by saying: "Why did you not
come back sooner? I have just found a pretty wife for
you; but I have tied mustard seed to their horse's tail
and it is being scattered along the road: in one place
it is sprouting in another it is flowering; in another it
is seeding and in another it is ripe; when you get to
the place where it is ripe you will catch them." So
the seven brothers pursued the two lovers and caught
them up, but the merchant's son cut down six of them
with his sword; the seventh however hid under the
HO FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
horse's belly and begged for mercy and offered to serve
them as groom to their horse. This man's name was
Damagurguria ; they spared his life and he followed
them running behind the horse; but he watched his
opportunity and caught the merchant's son unawares
and killed him with his sword.
Then he told the girl that she belonged to him and
she admitted it and asked that she might ride behind
him on the horse, so Damagurguria mounted and took
her up behind him and turned homewards. He could
not see what the girl was doing and they had not gone
far when she drew his sword and killed him with it.
Then she rode back to where the body of her lover
lay and began to weep over it. As she sat there a man
in shining white clothing appeared and asked what was
the matter; she told him Damagurguria had killed her
lover. Then he bade her stop crying and go and wet
a gamcha he gave her and come straight back with it
without looking behind her and then pick a meral twig
and beat the corpse with it. So the girl took the gamcha
and went and dipped it in a pool but, as she was bringing
it back, she heard a loud roaring behind her and she
looked back to see what it was; so the stranger sent
her back again to the pool and this time she did not
look round though she heard the same roaring. Then the
stranger told her to join the severed head to the body
and cover it with the wet gamcha; and then, after
waiting a little, to beat the body with the meral twig.
So saying he disappeared. The girl carefully complied
with these instructions and to her joy saw the merchant's
son sit up and rub his eyes, remarking that he must
have been asleep for a long time. Great was his aston-
ishment when he heard how Damagurguria had killed
him and how he had been restored to life by the help
of the stranger in white. This was the end of the lovers'
troubles and they lived happily ever after.
THE FLYCATCHER'S EGG in'
XXVII. THE FLYCATCHER'S EGG.
One day a herd boy found a flycatcher's egg and
he brought it home and asked his mother to cook it
for him, but she put it on a shelf and forgot about it.
His mother was a poor woman and had to go out all
day to work; so before she started she used always to
cook her son's dinner and leave it covered up all ready
for him. No sooner had she gone to work than a bonga
girl used to come out of the flycatcher's egg and first
eat up the rice that had been left for the herd boy and
then quickly put water on to boil and cook some rice
with pulse; and, having eaten part of it, cover up the
rest, ready for the herd boy on his return. Then she
used to comb and dress her hair and go back into the
egg. This happened every day and at last the boy
asked his mother why she gave him rice cooked with
pulse every day, as he was tired of it. His mother was
much astonished and said that some one must have been
changing his food, because she always cooked his rice
with vegetables. At this the boy resolved to watch
and see who was touching his food; so one day he
climbed up on to the rafters and lay in wait. Presently
out of the egg came the bonga girl and cooked the food
and combed her hair as usual. Just as she was going
back into the egg, the herd boy sprang down and caught
her. "Fi, Fi," cried she "is it a Dome or ^HadivfYio
is clasping me.?" "'No Dome or Hadi," said he: "we
are husband and wife:" so he took her to wife and they
lived happily together.
He strictly forbade her ever to go outside the
house and he said incantations over some mustard
seed and gave it to her, and told her that, if any
beggars came, she was to give them alms through
the window and, if they refused to take them in that
112 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
way, then she was to throw the mustard seed at them ;
but on no account to go outside the house. One day
when her husband was away a jugi came begging; the
bon^a girl offered him alms through the window but the
jugi flatly refused to take them ; he insisted on her
coming out of the house and giving them. Then she
threw the mustard seed at him and he turned into ashes.
By superior magic however he at once recovered his
own form and again insisted on her coming outside to
give him alms, so she went out to him and he saw how
beautiful she was.
The jugi went away and one day he went to
beg at the Raja's palace and, talking to the Raja, he
told him how he had seen a girl of more than human
beauty. The Raja resolved to possess her, and one
day he took the form of a fly and flew to the house
and saw the beautiful bonga; a second day he came
back in the same form and suddenly caught her up
and flew off with her on his back to his palace, and
in spite of her weeping shut her up in a beautifully
furnished room on the roof of his palace. There she had
to stay and her food was brought to her there. When
the herd boy came home and found that his beautiful
wife was missing he filled the air with lamentations and
leaving his home he put on the garb of a jugi and went
about begging. One day he came to the palace of the
Raja who had carried off his wife; as he begged he
heard his wife's voice, so he sang: —
"Give me, oh give me, my flycatcher wife,
Give me my many-coloured wife."
Then they offered him a jar full of money to pacify
him, but he threw the rupees away one by one and
continued his lament. Then the Raja called for his two
dogs Rauta and Paika and set them on the man and
they tore him to death. At this his wife wept grievously
THE WIFE WHO WOULD NOT BE BEATEN 113
and begged them to let her out since there was no one
to carry her away, now that her husband was dead.
They prepared to take away the corpse to burn it
and the bonga girl asked to be allowed to go with them
as she had never seen the funeral rites of a jugi : so
they let her go.
Before starting she tied a little salt in the corner of
her cloth. When she reached the burning place, she
sang to the two dogs : —
"Build the pyre, Rauta and Paikal
Alas! The dogs have bitten the jugi,
Alas ! They have chased and killed the jugi."
So the two dogs built the pyre and lay the body on
it. Then she ordered them to split more wood, singing : —
"Cut the wood, Rauta and Paikal
Alasl The dogs have bitten the jugi,
Alas! They have chased and killed the jugi."
So they split more wood and then she told them to
apply the fire, singing: —
"Light the fire, Rauta and Paikal
Alas I The dogs have bitten the Jugi,
Alas! they have chased and killed the jugi."
When the pyre was in full blaze she suddenly said
to the dogs "Look up, Rauta and Faika, see the stars
are shining in the day time." When the two dogs
looked up, she threw the salt into their eyes, and, while
they were blinded, she sprang into the flames and died
as a sati on the body of her husband.
XXVIIL THE^WIFE WHO WOULD NOT BE BEATEN.
There was once a Raja's son who announced that
h€ would marry no woman who would not allow him
to beat her every morning and evening. The Raja's
servants hunted high and low in vain for a bride who
8
114 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
would consent to these terms, at long last, they found
a maiden who agreed to be beaten morning and evening
if the prince would marry her. So the wedding took
place and for two or three days the prince hesitated to
begin the beating; but one morning he got up and,
taking a stick from the corner, went to his bride and
told her that she must have her beating. " Wait a
minute" said she "there is one thing I want to point
out to you before you beat me. It is only on the
strength of your father's position that you play the fine
gentleman like this : your wealth is all your father's and
it is on his wealth that you are relying. When you
have earned something for yourself, and made a position
for yourself, then I am willing that you should beat me
and not before."
The prince saw that what his bride said was true and
held his hand. Then, in order to earn wealth for him-
self, he set out on a trading expedition, taking quantities
of merchandise loaded in sacks ; and he had a large
band of retainers with him, mounted on horses and
elephants, and altogether made a fine show. The prin-
cess sent one of her own servants with the prince and
gave him secret instructions to watch his opportunity
and if ever, when the prince was bathing, he should throw
away a loin cloth, to take possession of it without the
prince knowing anything about it and bring it to her.
The prince journeyed on till he came to the country
called Lutia.
The Raja of Lutia was walking on the roof of his
palace and he saw the cavalcade approaching, and he
sent a sipahi to meet the prince and ask him this
question. " Have you the secret of prosperity for ever
or of prosperity for a day?" When this question was
put to the prince he answered that he had the secret
of prosperity for ever. When the Lutia Raja was told
of this answer, he ordered his men to stop the prince's
THE WIFE WHO WOULD NOT BE BEATEN 115
train; so they surrounded them and seized all the
merchandise and the prince's retainers fled on their
horses and elephants and left him alone and penniless.
In his distress the prince was forced to take service
with a rich Hindu, and he had nothing to live on but
what his master chose to give him, and all he had to
wear was a loin cloth like the poorest labourer.
The only man who did not desert him was the servant
whom the Princess had sent; and one day he saw that
the prince had thrown away an old loin cloth while
bathing ; this he picked up and took home to his mistress,
who put it away. When she heard all that had happened
to her husband, she set out in her turn to the Lutia
country and all she took with her was a mouse and a
shawl. When she reached the Lutia country the Raja
as before sent a messenger to ask whether she knew the
secret of prosperity for ever or of prosperity for a day.
She answered "prosperity for a day." Thereupon the
Raja had her sent for and also all the retainers who
had deserted the Prince and who had collected together
in the neighbourhood. When they had all come the
Raja said that he would now decide who should have
all the wealth which had been taken from the prince :
he produced a cat and said that the person towards
whom the cat jumped should have all the wealth. So
they all sat round the Raja and the Princess had her
mouse hidden under her shawl and every now and then
she kept uncovering its head and covering it up again.
The cat soon caught sight of the mouse and, when the
Raja let it go, it jumped straight to the Princess in hopes
of catching the mouse. The Raja at once adjudged all
the merchandise to her, and she loaded it on the horses
and elephants and took it home accompanied by her
husband's retainers.
A few days afterwards her husband came home, having
got tired of working as a servant, and, putting a bold
ii6 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
face on it, he went up to her and said that now he
was going to beat her; all the retainers who had accom-
panied him when he set out to trade and also the
servant whom the princess had sent with him were
present. Then^ before them all, the princess took up
the old loin cloth and asked him if he knew to whom it
had belonged ; at this reminder of his poverty the prince
was dumb with shame. " Ask your retainers " continued
the princess "to whom all the merchandise with which
you set out now rightfully belongs, ask them whether it is
yours or mine, and then say whether you will beat me."
The prince had no answer to give her and after this
lesson gave up all idea of beating his bride.
XXIX. SAHDE GOALA.
Once a marriage was arranged between Sahde Goala
and Princess Chandaini and on the wedding day when
it began to get dusk Sahde Goala ordered the sun to
stand still. "How," said he, "can the people see the
wedding of a mighty man like myself in the dark?"
So at his behest the sun delayed its setting for an
hour, and the great crowd which had assembled saw
all the grand ceremonies.
The next day Sahde and his bride set off home and
it took them three days to reach the place where he
lived. Before they left they had invited the princess's
father to come and see them; accordingly a day or
two later he set out, but it took him three months to
accomplish the distance which Sahde Goala had traversed
in three days. When the old Raja reached his son-in-
law's house they welcomed him and washed his feet
and offered him refreshments; and when he had eaten,
he asked his son-in-law to take him out for a stroll.
So they went out, Sahde Goala in front and the old
Raja following behind him and as tiiey walked Sahde
Goala struck his foot against a stone, and the stone
SAHDE GOALA 117
was shattered to pieces. When the Raja saw this proof
of his son-in-law's superhuman strength, he became
alarmed for his daughter's safety. If Sahde ever lost his
temper with her he might clearly smash her to atoms,
so he made up his mind that he could not leave her in
such keeping. When he told his daughter what he had
seen she was as frightened as her father and begged
him to take her home, so they agreed to escape together
some time when Sahde Goala was out of the way.
One morning Sahde Goala went out to watch his
men working in the fields and the old Raja and his
daughter seized this opportunity to escape. Sahde Goala
had a sister named Lorokini and she ran to the field
to tell her brother that his wife was running away.
" Let her go " said Sahde Goala. The old Raja travelled
faster than his daughter and left her behind and as she
travelled along alone Sahde Goala made a flooded river
flow across her path. It was quite unfordable so the
Princess stood on the bank and sang: —
"My mother gave me birth,
My father gave me in marriage:
If the water upstream would stand still
And the water downstream would flow away
Then I could go and live in my own home."
But no such thing happened and she had to go back
to her husband's house.
When she arrived her mother-in-law gave her a large
basket of cooked rice and a pot of relish and told her
to take them to the labourers in the field. Her mother-
in-law helped her to lift the basket on to her head and
she set off. When she reached the field she called to
her sister-in-law : —
"Come Lorokini,
Lift down from my head
The basket of rice
And the pot of relish."
118 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
But Lorokini was angry with her for trying to run
away and refused to help, singing: —
"I will not come
I will not lift down the basket:
Prop it against a murup tree:
I will not lift it down."
Then Chandaini Rani propped it against the trunk of
a murup tree, and so set it on the ground.
Then she sang to her husband: —
" Here, husband, is the lota of water :
Here, husband, is the tooth stick;
Come, and wash your hands:
If you are angry with me
Take me back to my father and mother."
But Sahde Goala was ploughing at the head of his
men and paid no attention to her : then she sang again : —
"Seven hundred labourers
And twenty hundred women labourers,
You are causing to die of thirst."
But still Sahde Goala paid no attention. Then Chandaini
Rani got angry and by leaning the basket against the
murup tree managed to get it on to her head again
and carried it home, and from that time murup trees
grow slanting. Directly she had taken the rice and
relish to the house she set off again to run away to
her mother. As before Sahde Goala caused a flooded
river to flow across her path and as before she sang: —
"My mother gave me birth,
My father gave me in marriage:
If the water upstream would stand still
And the water downstream would flow away
Then I could go and live in my own home."
And this time the water did stand still and the water
below all flowed away and she crossed over. As she
crossed she said "If I am really chaste no one will be
SAHDE GOALA 119
able to touch me." And as she reached the opposite
bank she saw a young man sitting waiting for her; his
name was Bosomunda, he had been sitting waiting for
her on the bank for days without moving. When he
saw Chandaini Rani mount the bank he rose and said
"Come: I have been waiting for you, you are to be
my mistress." "Fie, fiel" answered she "Am I to
belong to any Dome or Hari?" Bosomunda swore
that she should be his. "If so, then follow a little
behind me so as not to tread on my shadow." So
they went on, the Rani in front and Bosomunda behind.
Presently they came to a tamarind tree on which grew
two enormous fruits; the Rani pointed to them saying
"If I am to belong to you, you must pick me those
fruits." So Bosomunda began to climb the tree, and
as he climbed she prayed that the tree might grow and
touch the sky ; and in fact as fast as Bosomunda climbed
so the tree grew and he got no nearer to the fruit.
Then the Chandaini Rani picked up the weapons
which he had laid on the ground and threw them away
one to the north and one to the south, one to the east and
one to the west, and ran off as fast as she could, Boso-
munda at first did not see her because his eyes were fixed
on the tamarind fruit, but after she had gone a long way
he caught sight of her and came down as fast as he could
and, gathering up his weapons, went in pursuit. But
Chandaini Rani had got a long start, and as she hurried
along she passed a thorn tree standing by the side of
the road and she called to it "Thorn tree, Bosomunda
is coming after me, do your best to detain him for a
little." As she spoke it seemed as if a weight descended
on the tree and swayed it to and fro so that its bran-
ches swept the ground, and it answered her " I will do
like tliis to him." Then she went on and met a goat
on the road, and she asked it to do its best to delay
Bosomunda, and the goat pawed the ground and dug
120 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
its horns into the earth and said that it would do the
same to Bosomunda. Then she went on and met a ram
and made the same 'request; the ram charged a tree
and butted it right over and promised to treat Boso-
munda in the same way. Afterwards she came to a
bull and the bull drove its horns into a bank and
brought down a quantity of earth and said that that
was the way he would treat Bosomunda. Next she
came to a buffalo and the buffalo charged a bank of
earth to show what he would do to Bosomunda. Then
she came to an elephant and the elephant trampled a
clod of earth to dust and said that he would treat
Bosomunda so. Then she went on and saw a paddy
bird feeding by the roadside and she asked it to do its
best to delay Bosomunda; the paddy bird drove its bill
into the earth and said that it would treat Bosomunda
in the same way.
Meanwhile Bosomunda was in hot pursuit. When he
came to the thorn tree, the tree swayed its branches
and caught him with its thorns, but he cut down the
tree and freed himself; he went on a little way and
met the goat which ran at him with its horns, but
Bosomunda sang: —
"Do not fight with me, goat,
I will cut off your legs and cut off your head
And take them to the shrine of Mahadeo."
So saying, he killed the goat and cut off its head and
tied it to his waist and went on. Next the ram charged
him but he sang:
"Do not fight with me, Ram,
I will cut off your legs and cut off your head
And take them to the shrine of Mahadeo."
So saying he killed the Ram and took its head. Then
in succession he was attacked by the bull and the
buffalo and the elephant, but he killed them all and cut
SAHDE GOALA 121
off their heads. Then he came to the paddy bird,
which pretended to be busily engaged in picking up
insects and gradually worked its way nearer and nearer.
Bosomunda let it get quite close and then suddenly
seized it and gave its neck a pull which lengthened it
out considerably; "Thank you" said the paddy bird,
as he put it down "now I shall be able to catch all
the fish in a pool without moving." Thereupon Boso-
munda caught it again and gave its neck a jerk and
that is why paddy birds have necks shaped like a letter S,
Bosomunda continued his pursuit and caught up Chan-
daini Rani just as she was entering her father's house;
he seized her by her hair and managed to cut off the
edge of her cloth and pull off one of her golden anklets,
and then had to let her go.
He took up his abode at the gkat of a tank and
began to kill every one who came down to the water.
The citizens complained to the Raja of the destruction he
was causing and the Raja ordered some valiant man to be
searched for, fit to do battle with the murderer ; so they
sent for a Birbanta (giant) and the Raja promised to
give him half his kingdom and his daughter in marriage
if he could slay Bosomunda. So the Birbanta made
ready for the fight and advanced brandishing his weapons
against Bosomunda. Three days and three nights they
fought, and in the end the Birbanta was defeated and
killed.
Then the Raja ordered his subjects to find another
champion and a Birburi was found willing to under-
take the fight in hope of the promised reward ; and
as he was being taken to the field of battle his
mother met him with a ladle full of curds and told him
to do a war dance, and as he was dancing round she
threw the curds at him ; he caught the whole of it on
his shield except one drop which fell on his thigh;
from this his mother foresaw that he would bleed to
122 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
death in the fight, so she took some rice and ran on
ahead and again met her son and told him to do the
war dance and show how he was going to fight ; and
as he danced his sword shivered to atoms. His mother
said, "Is this the way in which you intended to fight,
of a surety you would have met your death." Then
she made him gather together the pieces of his sword
and cover them with a wet cloth, and in a few minutes
the pieces joined together; then she allowed him to go
to the fight.
When the battle began the Birburi's mother kept
calling out "Well, Bosomunda, have you killed my
son?" This enraged Bosomunda and he kept running
after the old woman to drive her away, and this gave
the opportunity to the Birburi to get in a good blow;
in this way they fought for seven days and nights and
at the end Bosomunda was defeated and killed. Then
the Raja gave half his kingdom to the Birburi and
married him to his daughter Chandaini Rani.
After their marriage they set out for their new home
and on the way they met Sahde Goala who had come in
search of his missing wife. "Hulloa" cried Sahde Goala
"where are you taking my wife to?" "I know nothing
about your wife" said the Birburi "this is the Raja's
daughter whom I have married as a reward for killing
Bosomunda; he has given me half his kingdom from
Sir Sikar to the field of the cotton tree." Then Sahde
Goala told him to go his way, so the Birburi and the
Rani went on and Sahde Goala caused a flooded river
with the water flowing bank high to cross their path.
As they waited on the bank Sahde Goala made the
Birburi an offer that, if he could carry the woman across
the river without getting the sole of her foot wet, then
she should belong to him and if not Sahde Goala should
take her. The Birburi agreed and tried and tried again
to get the Rani across without wetting her, but the
THE RAJA'S SON ETC. 123
flood was too strong, so at last he gave in and Sahde
Goala took her back with him to their former home.
There they lived and in the course of time Chandaini
Rani bore a son and she named him Dhonontori, and
after the birth of their son the family became so wealthy
(dhon) that the Hindus revered Dhonontori as a god.
And so ends the story.
•; XXX. THE RAJA'S SON AND THE
MERCHANT'S SON.
Once upon a time the son of a Raja and the son
of a merchant were great friends; they neither of them
had any taste for lessons but would play truant from
school and waste their time running about the town.
The Raja was much vexed at his son's behaviour; he
wished him to grow up a worthy successor to himself,
and with this object did all he could to break off his
friendship with the merchant's son, as the two boys
only led each other into mischief; but all his efforts
failed and at last he offered a reward of one hundred
rupees to any one who could separate them. One of
the Raja's concubines made up her mind to earn the
reward, and one day she met the two boys as they
were going out to bathe. The Raja's son was walking
ahead and the merchant's son a little way behind ; the
woman ran after the merchant's son and threw her arms
round him and putting her lips to his ear pretended to
whisper to him and then ran away. When they met at
the river the Prince asked the merchant's son what the
woman had told him, his friend denied that she had
said anything but for all his protestations the Prince
would not believe this. They quarrelled about it for a
long time and at last the Prince went home in a rage
and shut himself up in his room and refused to eat or
be comforted. His father sent to enquire what was the
124 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
matter with him and the Prince replied that food should
not pass his lips until the merchant's son had been put
to death.
Thereupon the Raja sent for some soldiers and told
them to devise some means of killing the merchant's
son. So they bound the youth and showed him to
the Prince and said that they would take him to the
jungle and kill and bury him there. They then led
him off, but on the road they caught a lamb and
when they got to the jungle they killed the lamb and
steeped the clothes of the merchant's son in the blood
that they might have something to show to the Prince
and then went back leaving the boy in the jungle. They
took the bloody cloth to the Prince and told him to
rise and eat, but when he saw the blood, all his old
friendship revived and he was filled with remorse and
could not eat for sorrow. Then the Raja told his
soldiers to find out some friend to comfort the Prince,
and they told him that they would soon set things
straight and going off to the jungle brought back the
merchant's son and took him to the Prince ; and the
two youths forgot their differences and were as friendly
as before.
Time passed and one day the Prince proposed to his
friend that they should run away and seek their fortunes
in the world. So they fixed a day and stole away
without telling anyone, and, as they had not taken any
money, they soon had to look about for employment.
They found work and the arrangement their masters
made with them was this: their wages were to be as
much rice each day as would go on a leaf; and if they
threw up their work they were to forfeit one hand and
one ear; on the other hand if their masters discharged
them so long as they were willing to work for this wage
the master was to lose one hand and one ear. The
merchant's son was cunning enough to turn this agreement
THE RAJA'S SON ETC. 125
to his advantage, for every day he brought a large lotus
leaf to be filled with rice ; this gave him more than he
could eat and he soon grew fat and flourishing, but
the Raja's son only took an ordinary sal leaf to his
master and the rice that he got on this was not enough
to keep him alive, so he soon wasted away and died.
Now the merchant's son had told his master that his
name was Ujar : one day his master said " Ujar, go and
hoe that sugar cane and look sharp about it." So Ujar
went and instead of hoeing the ground dug up all the
sugar cane and piled it in a heap. When the master
saw his fine crop destroyed he was very angry and
called the villagers to punish Ujar, but when they
questioned him, Ujar protested that he was bound to
obey his master's orders; he had been ordered to hoe
the sugar cane, not the ground, and he had done as he
was told, and so they had to let him off.
Another day & Hindu neighbour came to Ujar's master
and asked him to lend him his servant for a day. So
Ujar went to the Hindu's house and there was told to
scrape and spin some hemp, but Ujar did not understand
the Hindu language and when he got the knife to scrape
the hemp with, he proceeded to chop it all up into little
pieces; when the Hindu saw what had happened he
was very angry and called in the neighbours, but Ujar
protested that he had been told to cut the hemp and
had done so; and so he got off.
Ujar's master had an only child and one day he told
Ujar to take the child to a tank and give him a good
washing, so Ujar took the child to a tank and there
proceeded to dash the child against a stone in the way
that washermen wash clothes; he knocked the child
about until he knocked the life out of him and then
carefully washed him in the tank and brought the body
home and put it on the bed. Next morning the father
was surprised not to hear the child running about and.
126 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
going to look, found the dead body. The villagers
assembled but Ujar protested that his master had told
him to wash the child thoroughly and he had only
obeyed orders; so they had to let him off again.
After this the master made up his mind to get rid
of Ujar, but he was in a fix : he could not dismiss him
because of the agreement that if he did not continue
to employ him so long as he was willing to serve for
one leaf full of rice a day he was to lose a hand and
an ear. So he decided to kill him, but he was afraid
to do so himself for fear of being found out; so he
decided to send Ujar to his father-in-law's house and
get them to do the job. He wrote a letter to his father-
in-law asking him to kill the bearer directly he arrived
before many people knew of his coming and this letter
he gave to Ujar to deliver.
On the way however Ujar had some misgivings and
he opened the letter and read it; thereupon he tore
it in pieces and instead of it wrote a letter to his
master's father-in-law in which his master was made
to say that Ujar was a most valuable servant and
they should give him their youngest daughter in
marriage as soon as possible. The fraud was not
found out and directly Ujar arrived he was married to
the youngest daughter of his master's father-in-law. A
few days later the master went to see how his plan had
worked and was disgusted to find Ujar not only alive
but happily married.
So he thought that he would entice him into the
jungle and kill him there; with this object he one
day invited Ujar to come out hunting with him, but
Ujar suspected Avhat was up and took a hatchet with
him ; and directly they got to the jungle he fell behind
his master and cut him down with his hatchet and
then went home and told his wife's relations that his
master had got tired of hunting and had gone back
THE POOR WIDOW
127
to his own home ; no doubts were raised about his story
and he lived on happily with his wife till he died at
a ripe old age.
XXXI. THE POOR WIDOW.
Once there was a poor widow who had two children ;
she lived by daily labour and if she got no work any
day, then that day they had to go without food. One
morning she went out to look for work and a rich woman
called her and asked if she wanted a job ; she said
"Yes, that is what I am looking for," then the rich
woman said " Stay here and pick the lice out of my hair,
and I will pay you your usual wages and give you your
dinner as well." So the poor widow agreed and spent
the day picking out the lice and at evening the rich
woman brought out a measure of rice to give her as
her wages and, as she was measuring it, she felt her
head itch and she put up her hand and scratched and
pulled out a large louse.
Then she got very angry and scolded the widow and
said that she would pay her nothing as she had not
done her work properly and she turned her out. Then
the widow was very unhappy for she had nothing to
give her starving children and she wished tliat she had
stuck to her usual work. When she got home and her
children began to cry for food, she remembered that she
had seen some wild saru (vegetable) growing in a certain
place; so she took a basket and a sickle and telling
her children not to cry went out to gather it. It was
dark and lonely and she felt frightened but then she
thought of her children and went on and gathered the
saru, and returned home crying because she had nothing
better to give her offspring. On the way she met an
old man who asked her why she was crying and she
told him all her story. Then he told her to take the
128 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
herbs home and chop them all up and to put some in
every basket and pot she had and to cook the rest for
supper. So when she got home she did as she had been
directed and when she came to take the herbs which
she had cooked out of the pot, she found that they had
turned into rice, and she and her children ate it with joy.
The next morning she found that every pot and basket
into which she had put the herbs was full of rice ; and
from that time she prospered and bought goats and pigs
and cattle and lived happily ever after.
But no one knew where the old man came from, as
she had forgotten to ask him.
XXXII. THE MONKEY AND THE GIRL. , ,
Once upon a time the boys and girls of a village
used to watch the crops of but growing by a river, and
there was a Hanuman monkey who wished to eat the but,
but they drove him away. So he made a plan: he
used to make a garland of flowers and go with it to the
field and, when he was driven away, he would leave the
flowiers behind; and the children were pleased with the
flowers and ended by making friends with the monkey
and did not drive him away. There was one of the
young girls whe was fascinated by the monkey and
promised to marry him. Some of the other children
told this in the village and the girl's father and mother
came to hear of it and were angry and the father took
some of the villagers and went and shot the monkey.
Then they decided not to throw away the body, but to
burn it like the corpse of a man. So they made a pyre
and put the body on it and set fire to it ; just then the
girl came and they told her to go away, but she said
that she wished to see whether they really burned him
like a man. So she stood by and when the pyre was
in full blaze, shft called out " Oh look, what is happening
RAMAI AND THE ANIMALS 129
to the stars in the sky ! " at this every one looked up
at the sky ; then she took some sand which she had in
the fold of her cloth and threw it into the air and it
lell into their eyes and blinded them.
While they were rubbing the sand out of their eyes
the girl leapt on to the pyre, and was burned along
with the monkey and died a sati. Her father and brothers
were very angry at this and said that the girl must have
had a monkey's soul and so she was fascinated by him ;
and so saying they bathed and went home.
XXXIII. RAMAI AND THE ANIMALS.
Once there was a blacksmith who had five sons and
the sons were always quarrelling. Their father used to
scold them, but they paid no heed ; so he got angry
and one day he sent for them and said: "You waste
your time quarrelling. I have brought you up and have
amassed wealth; I should like to see what you are
worth. I will put it to the test: I will give you each
one hundred rupees, and I will see how you employ
the money; if any of you puts it to profitable use, I
will call him my son ; but if any of you squander it, I
shall call him a girl." So they went forth with the
money and one bought buffaloes and one bought horses
and another cattle, each according to his judgement,
and brought them home. But the youngest son, who
was named Ramai, soon after he started, found some
men killing a cat and he begged them not to kill the
cat, but let him have it and he bought it of them, and
going on he found some men killing a dog which they
had caught stealing and he bought it of them to save
its life. By and bye he came to some men hunting an
otter and he asked what they were doing, and they
said that the otter ate the fish in a Raja's tank and so
they were going to kill it ; and he asked them to catch
9
130 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
it and sell it to him, and promised to take it away
where it could do no harm; and they did so. Then
he went on and came to some men who were killing
a young black snake and he saved that also, and then
returned home with his four animals, and he tethered
the cat and the dog and the otter in the yard and he
put the snake into a pot with a lid on and hung it in
the cow shed.
When his father saw Ramai's animals, he was very
angry and jeered at him and said that he had no more
mind than a woman; and especially he told him to
throw away the snake at once, if he did not want it
killed. So Ramai took down the pot with the snake
in it, and the snake said: "Take me to my father
and mother and they will reward you, and when they
ask what you would like, take nothing but the ring
which is on my father's hand: it is a magic ring and
has the property that it will give you whatever you ask."
So Ramai took the young snake to its home and
its father and mother were very grateful and asked
what reward he would accept: and he said he would
take nothing but the ring, so they gave it to him. On
the way home he thought that he would test its virtues :
so he bathed and spread out a cloth and then prayed:
„0h ring, give me some luncheon," and behold he saw
a nice lunch heaped up in the middle of the cloth.
He ate it joyfully and went back home, and there he
found that his father had killed the other animals and
he reproached him; but his father said: "They were
useless and were only eating their heads off, why should
not I kill them?" Ramai answered: "These were not
useless, they were most valuable animals, much better
than those my brothers bought ; if you asked my brothers
for a gold palace they could not make you one, but I
could do so at once, thanks to the snake, and I could
marry a princess and get anything else I want."
THE MAGIC BEDSTEAD 131
His father said that he would like to see him try : so
Ramai asked the ring for a gold palace and immediately
one appeared in their garden. Then his father was very
repentant about having killed the other animals. But
Ramai's boast that he could marry a princess got abroad
and the Raja heard of it and as he was glad to have
so rich a son-in-law, he gave him his daughter in marriage.
And with his daughter the Raja sent elephants and
horses, but Ramai sent them back again, lest it should
be said that he had become rich through the bounty of
the Raja; and by virtue of the ring they lived in
wealthy and prosperity.
XXXIV. THE MAGIC BEDSTEAD.
Once upon a time a carpenter made a bedstead, and
when it was ready he put it in his verandah. At night
he heard the four legs of the bedstead talking together
and saying: "We will save the life of anyone who
sleeps on this bedstead and protect him from bis enemies."
When the carpenter heard this, he decided not to part
with the bed for less than a hundred rupees. So next
day he went out to try and get this price for the bed,
but people laughed at him and said that no one could
pay such a price but the Raja ; so he went to the Raja
and the Raja asked why he wanted one hundred rupees
for a bedstead that was apparently worth only five or
six annas. The carpenter answered that the bed would
protect its owner from all enemies; the Raja doubted
at first but as the man persisted in his story, he agreed
to buy the bed, but he stipulated that if he found the
story about it not to be true, he should take back his
money.
One night the king lay awake on the bed and he heard
the legs of the bed talking, so he lay still and listened :
and they said that the Raja was in danger and that they
132 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
must try to save him. So one leg loosened itself from
the bed and went away outside and it found a tiger
which had come to eat the Raja, and it beat the tiger
to death, and then came back and fixed itself into its
pla(fe again. Soon a second leg said that it would go
outside; so it went and that teg met a leopard and a
bear and it beat them to death and returned. Then
the third leg said that it was its turn, arid it went outside
and it foulad four burglars digging a hole through the
wall bf the palace, and it set upon them and broke
their legs and left them lying there. When this one
returned, the fourth leg went out and it heard a voice
in the sky saying: "The Raja is very cunning, I will
send a snake which shall hide in his shoe and when he
puts the shoe on in the morning, it will bite him and
he "will die." When this leg came back, each one told
the dthers what it had seen aYjd done, and th^e Raja
heard them and lay aWake till mornitig, and at dawn
he Called his setvarits and Sent them outside the pfalaee
and there they found the tiger and leopard and bear
lying dead, and the four thieves -with their legs broken.
Th6ia the Raja 'believed what the legs had said and he
would not get up but fitst ordered his servants to' make
a fire in the courtyard and ht had all bis shoes thrown
into the fife and then he got up.
After this the Raja ordered that great care was to be
taken of the bedstead and that anyone who sat on it
should be piit to death; and he himself msed not to
sleep in 'it antymore btit he kept it in his bedroom that
it might protect him.
XXXV. THE GHORMUHAS.
GttORMUHAS have heads like horses and bodies and
arms like men and their legs are shaped like mea's' but
they have only one leg each, and they eat human beings.
THE GHORMUHAS 133
One day a young man nanaed Somai was hunting a
deer and the deer ran away tp the country of the Ghpr-
muhas and Somai, pursued it, and the, Ghorqiuh^is caught
him and took hinj, home to eat, First they s.mpked
him for two or three days so that all the vermin were
driven out of his body and clothes and then they proceed-
ed to fatten him; they fed him well every day on rice
cooked with turmeric.
Somai saw how they dealt with their other victims:
they tied them hand and foot and threw them alive
into a pot. of boiling oil and when they were cooked
they hung the bodies up ia the doorway and would
take a bite as they passed in and out", the liver and
heart and brains they cooked separately. They used
to eat their own parents also: for when [a father or
mpther grew pld they wpuld thrpw them pn to the
ropf of, the house and when they rolled down and were
killed they would say to their friends, "The pumpkin
grooving on our rpof has gpt ripe and falle;i pff and burst,
let us cpme and eat it;" and then they h^cl a feajst,
Spmai saw all this and was very frightened. The
Ghprmuhas cpuld, run very fast and they made Spjijai
run a race with, them every day and their plarj was that
they wpuld eat him when he was strpng enpugh tp beat
them in the race. In the cpurse of time he, came tp
beat them in running pn the rpad; then they said that
they wpuld make him run in. the fields and, if he beat
them there, they meant tP eat him.
Spmai fpund put their plan and he decided to try and
run away ; if he stayed he wpuld be eaten, so if they
caught him when he tried to run away he wpuld be no
worse off. So the first day they raced in the fields Spnaai
was winning but he remembered and stopped himself and
let himself be beaten that day. But he resolved to try
and escape the next day and, the Ghorniuhas bad decided
to eat him that day whatever happened. So when tjje
134 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
race began, Somai set off towards the lower lands where
the rice fields were embanked and he jumped the embank-
ments, but the Ghormuhas who pursued him could not
jump well and tumbled and fell ; and thus he ran away
to his own country and made good his escape. And
it was he who told men what Ghormuhas are like and
how they live.
XXXVI. THE BOY WHO LEARNT MAGIC.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven
wives and they were all childless, and he was very un-
happy at having no heir. One day a Jogi came to the
palace begging, and the Raja and his Ranis asked him
whether he could say what should be done in order that
they might have children; the Jogi asked what they
would give him if he told them and they said that they
would give him anything that he asked for and gave
him a written bond to this effect. Then the Jogi said
" I will not take elephants or horses or money, but you
shall give me the child which is born first and any born
afterwards shall be yours, do you agree .^" And the
Ranis consulted together and agreed. "Then," said the
Jogi, "this is what you must do: you must all go and
bathe, and after bathing you must go to a mango orchard
and the Raja must choose a bunch of seven mangoes
and knock it down with his left hand and catch it in a
cloth, without letting it touch the ground ; then you must
go home and the Ranis must sit in a row according
to their seniority and the Raja must give them each one
of the mangoes to eat, and he must himself eat the rinds
which the Ranis throw away; and then you will have
children." And so saying the Jogi went away promis-
ing to return the next year.
A few days later the Raja decided to give a trial to
the Jogi's prescription and he and the Ranis did as they
THE BOY WHO LEARNT MAGIC 135
had been told ; but the Raja did not eat the rind of
the youngest Rani's mango; he did not love her very
much. However five or six months after it was seen
that the youngest Rani was with child and then she
became the Raja's favourite; but the other Ranis were
jealous of her and reminded the Raja that he would
not be able to keep her child. But when her time was
full she gave birth to twin sons, and the Raja was
delighted to think that he would be able to keep the
younger of the two and he loved it much.
When the year was up the Jogi came and saw the
boys and he said that he would return when they could
walk; and when they could run about, he came again,
and asked whether the Raja would fulfil his promise.
The Raja said that he would not break his bond.
Then the Jogi said that he would take the two boys and
when the Raja objected that he was only entitled to one,
he said that he claimed both as they were born at the
same time; but he promised that if he took both he
would teach them magic and then let one come back;
and he promised also that all the Ranis should have
children. So the Raja agreed and sent away the boys
with the Jogi and with them he sent goats and sheep
and donkeys and horses and camels and elephants and
furniture of all sorts.
The Jogi was called Sitari Jogi and he was a Raja
in his own country. But before they reached his country
all the animals died, first the goats, then the sheep and
the donkeys and the horses and the camels and the
elephants. And when the goats died the boys lamented :
"The goats have died, father,
How far, father,
Is it to the country of the Sitari Jogi ? "
and so they sang when the other animals died.
At last they reached the Jogi's palace and every day
136 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS i
he taught them incantations and spells. He bought them
each a water pot and sent them every morning to fill
it with dew, but before they collected enough, the sun
came out and dried up- the dew; one day they got a
cupful, another day half a cupful, but they never were
able to fill the pots. In the course of time they learnt
all the spells the Jogi knew and one day when they went
out to gather dew, the younger boy secretly took with
him a rag and he soaked this in the dew and then squeezed
it into the pot and so he soon filled it; and the elder
boy seeing his brother's pot full, filled his pot at a pool
of water and they took them to the Jogi; but the Jogi
was not deceived by the elder boy and told him that
he would never learn magic thoroughly ; but the younger
boy having learned all that the Jogi knew, learnt more
still from his friends, for all the people of that country
knew magic.
Then one day the Jogi took the two boys back to their
home and he told the Raja that he would leave the
elder boy at home. The Raja wanted to keep the
younger one, but the Jogi insisted and the younger boy
whispered to his mother not to mind as he would soon
come back by himself; so they let him go.
The Jogi and the boy used to practise magic: the
Jogi would take the form of a young man and the boy
would turn into a bullock and the Jogi would go to a
village and sell the bullock for a good price; but he
would not give up the tethering, rope and then he would
go away and do something with the tethering rope and
the boy would resume his shape again and run off to
the Jogi and when the purchasers looked for their bullock
they found nothing, and when they went to look for
the seller the Jogi would change his shape again so that
he could not be recognised ; and in this way they deceived
many people and amassed wealth.
Then the Jogi taught the boy the spell he used with
THE BOY WHO LEARNT MAGIC 137
the rope, and when he had learnt this, he asked to be
taught the spell hy which he could change his own
shape without having a second person to work the spell
with the rope. The Jogi said that he would teach him
that later but he must wait. Then the boy reproached
the Jogi and said that he did not love him; and he
went away to his friends in the town and learnt the
spell he wanted from them, so that he was able to
change his shape at will.
Two or three days after the boy again went to the
Jogi and said " Teach me the spell about which I spoke
to you the other day," and the Jogi refused. " Then,"
said the boy, "I shall go back to my father, for I see
that you do not love me."
At this the Jogi grew wrathful and said that if the
away he would kill him, so the boy at this ran
away in terror, and the Jogi became a leopard and
pursued him : then the boy turned himself into a pigeon
and the Jogi became a hawk and pursued him; so the
boy turned himself into a fly and the Jogi became a
paddy bird and pursued him; the fly alighted on the
plate of a Rani who was eating rice, and the Jogi took
on his natural shape and told the Rani to scatter the
rice which she was eating on the ground and she did
so; but the boy turned himself into a bead of coral on
the necklace which the Rani was wearing ; and the Jogi
did not notice this but became a pigeon and ate up
the rice which the Rani had thrown down. When he
did not find the boy among the rice he turned himself
into a Jogi again and saw him in the necklace ; then he
told the Rani to break her necklace and scatter the
beads on the ground and she did so; then the Jogi
again became a pigeon and began to pick up the beads,
but the boy turned himself into a cat and hid under
the verandah and when the pigeon came near, he pounced
on it and killed it, and ran outside with it. Then he
138 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
became a boy again and twisted off the bird's head and
wrapped it in his cloth and went off home ; and looking
behind he saw the Jogi's head come rolling after him,
so when he came to a blacksmith's fire by the side of
the road he threw the pigeon's head into it, and then
the Jogi's head also ran into the fire and was consumed.
And the boy went home to his parents.
XXXVIL THE CHARITABLE JOGL
Once there was a very poor man with a large family ;
and when his eldest son grew up he tried to arrange a
marriage for him. He selected a bride and arranged
matters with her relations but then he found that he had
no money to pay for the perforniance of the marriage
ceremonies. So he tried to borrow from his friends and
from money lenders, but no one would lend him anything.
So he proposed to the bride's relatives to only have
the betrothal that year and the marriage the year after,
but they would not agree and said that the marriage
must be then or never.
Just then a Jogi came to his house to beg and he
told the Jogi all about his difficulties and asked for
help; the Jogi took pity on him and gave him twenty
rupees which was all that he had collected by begging.
Now this Jogi had two wives at home and he thought
that he would get a poor reception from them if he
returned empty handed, so he picked up two stones
and wrapped them up in two pieces of cloth. And when
he reached home his wives welcomed him and brought
out a bed for him to sit on and asked about his adventures
and when they saw the bundles they wished to know
what was inside and they opened them before him and
behold the stones had turned into gold. When the Jogi
saw this he wished that he had picked up three or
four stones instead of only two and he understood that
CHOTE AND MOTE 139
Chando had given him the gold because he helped
the poor man.
This is why no money lender will refuse a loan if one
is asked for for the performance of a marriage and money
so borrowed is always paid back punctually. When the
Jogi came back the next year the poor man paid him
the twenty rupees.
XXXVIII. CHOTE AND MOTE.
Once upon a time there were two brothers Chote
and Mote; they were poor but very industrious and
they got tired of working as hired labourers in their
own village so they decided to try their luck elsewhere.
They went to a distant village and Chote took service
with an oilman and Mote with a potter on a yearly
agreement. Chote had to drive the oil mill in the
morning and then after having his dinner to feed the
mill bullock and take it out to graze. But the bullock
having had a good meal of oilcake would not settle
down to graze alone but kept running after all the
herds of cattle it saw, and Chote had to spend his
whole time running after it till he was worn out and
he was very soon sorry that he had taken up such hard
service; and was quite resolved not to stay on after
his year was up.
Mote was no better off; the potter overworked him,
making him carry water and dig earth from morn to
night and for all he did he got nothing but abuse.
One day the brothers, met and Mote asked Chote
how he was getting on. Chote answered " Oh I have
got a capital place; all the morning I sit at my ease
on the oil mill, then I have a good dinner and take
the bullock out to graze and as it has had a good
meal of oilcake it lies down without giving any trouble
and I sit in the shade and enjoy myself." Then Mote
140 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
said "I am pretty lucky too. I have to fetch three or
four pots of water, then I have my dinner and a rest
and then I have, to dig earth and knead it. Still I
cannot say that I have so little work as you; will you
change with me for three or four days, so that I may
have a rest?"
Chote gladly agreed and each brother thought that be
had got the better of the other. In the morning while
Mote was driving the oil mill he was very pleased with
his new job and when he had to take the bullock out
to graze he took a bedstead with him to lie on. But
directly the bullock got outside the village it rushed
off bellowing towards some other cattle and Mote had
to run after it with his bedstead on his head, and all
the afternoon the bullock kept him running about till
he was worn out.
Meanwhile Chote was no better off; his unaccust-
omed shoulders were quite bruised with constantly
carrying water. At the potter's house was a custard
apple tree and it was believed that there was money
buried at the foot of the tree; so as Chote was a
stranger, the potter told him to water the earth by
the tree to soften it, as it was to be used for pottery.
Chote softened the earth and dug it and as he dug he
uncovered pots of rupees ; so he covered them up again
and dug the earth elsewhere. And at evening he went
and proposed to Mote to run away with the money.
So at midnight, they went and dug it up and ran off
home. As they were not pursued, they felt safe after
a month or two, so they spent the money in buying
land and cattle, and their cultivation prospered, and they
became quickly rich.
XXXIX. THE DAYDREAMER.
Once an oil man was going' to market with his pots
of oil arranged on a flat basket and he engaged a
THE EXTORTIONATE SENTRY 141
Santal for two annas to carry the basket; and as he
went along, the Santal thought " With one anna I will
buy food and with the other I will buy chickens, and
the chickens will grow up and multiply and then I will
sell some of the fowls and eggs and with the money
I will buy goats; and when the goats increase, I will,
sell some and buy cows, and then I will exchange
some of the calves for she-buffaloes, and when the buf-
faloes breed, I will sell some and buy land and start
cultivation and then I will Marry and have children and
I will hurry back from my work in the fields and my
wife will bring me water and I will have a reist and my
children will say to me "Father, be quick and wash your
hands for dinner," but I "will shake my head and say
"No, no, not yetl"— and as he thought about it he
really shook his head and the basket fell to the ground
and all the pots of oil were smashed.
Then the oilman abused him and said that he must
pay two rupees for the oil and one anna for the pots:
but the Santal said that he had lost much more than
that and the oilman asked him how that could be: and
the Santal 'explained how with his wages he was going
to get fowls and then goats and then oxen and buffaloes
and land and how he came to spill the basket and at
that the oilman roared with laughter and said " Well I
have made up the account and I find that our losses
are equal, so we will cry quits ; " and so saying they
went their ways laughing.
XL. THt EXTORTIONATE SENTRY.
There was once a sentry oatside a Raja's palace
who would let no one go in to sell anything to the
Raja ahtil they first 'proniised'togive him half the price
they received from the 'Raja, and the poor traders had
to promise, for their livelihood depended on selling their
142 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
goods. One day a fisherman caught an enormous fish
and he thought that if he took it to the Raja he would
get a big price for it.
So he went off to the palace, but when he came to
the gate the sentry stopped him and would not let him
go in, until he promised to give him half of what he
got, and after some argument he had to promise. So
he was admitted to the Raja's presence and when the
Raja asked what was the price of the fish, the fisher-
man said "A hundred blows with a stick."
The Raja was very astonished and asked the meaning
of such a request. Then the fisherman said that the
sentry had extorted a promise that he should get half
the price and he wanted him to get fifty blows. At
this the Raja was very angry and he had the sentry
beaten with one hundred stripes and dismissed him.
XLL THE BROKEN FRIENDSHIP.
Once upon a time there was a Raja and his Dewan
and they each had one son, and the two boys were
great friends, and, when they grew old enough, they
took to hunting and when they became young men they
were so devoted to the sport that they spent their whole
time in pursuit of game; they followed every animal
they could find until they killed it, and they shot
every bird in the town.
Their parents were much distressed at this, for they
thought that if their boys spent all their time together
hunting they would grow up unruly and ignorant; so
they made up their minds that they must separate the
young men so that they would not be tempted to spend
so much time in sport, but would be able to learn
something useful; they scolded the youths and told
them to give up their friendship and their hunting, but
this had no effect. Then the Raja told the villagers that
THE BROKEN FRIENDSHIP 143
he would reward any one who would break up the
friendship, and the villagers tried their best but effected
nothing.
There was however an old woman in the village who
one day said, " If the Raja gave me ten rupees I would
soon put a stop to their friendship." This came to the
ears of the Raja and he exclaimed " What is ten rupees
to me! bring the old woman to me and I will give her
ten rupees, if she can put an end to this friendship,"
So the old woman was brought trembling before the
Raja and on being questioned undertook to break up
the friendship if she were properly rewarded ; and when
this was promised she asked for two men to be given
to her and she took them to her house and there she
made them sling a bed on a pole, such as is used for
carrying a man on a journey and she hung curtains all
round it and drew them close and inside, on an old
winnowing fan, they put some rotten manure from a
dung hill.
Then she made the two men take up the bed and she
fetched a drum and she paraded all through the bazar
beatmg the drum with the bed following behind her. She
told the two carriers not to answer any questions as to what
was in the bed. Thus they passed out of the town and went
in the direction in which the two young men had gone
hunting. When these heard the sound of the drum and
saw the two men carrying the bed they ran up to see
what it was and told the carriers to put it down that
they might look inside; so the bed was put on the
ground and the Raja's son peeped inside the curtain,
but as he caught the smell he jumped back and the
Dewan's son asked what was the matter and he said
"it stinks: it is dung." The Dewan's son would not
believe him and also looked to convince himself; then
they both asked what the meaning of this was : the
old woman said that she would explain the meaning of
144 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
it but only to one of them, and the one who had heard
could tell the other.
So she made the carriers take away the bed and she
called the Raja's son aside saying "Come I will tell
you what it means" then she put her arms round the
neck of the Raja's son and put her lips to his ear and
pretended to whisper to him, but really she said nothing ;
then she let him go and followed the carriers.
The Dewan's son at once ran to his friend and
asked what the old woman had told him; the Raja's
son answered "She told me nothing at all, she only
pretended to whisper." The Dewan's son would not be-
lieve this and pressed him to tell, saying "We have
been friends for so long and have had no secrets from
each other, why won't you tell me this? if you refuse
to tell me there is anend of our friendship," but the
Raja's son persisted that he had been told nothing and
proposed that they should go and ask the old woman if
it were not so ; but the Dewan's son said that that was
no good because the old woman and the Raja's son had
plainly made a plot to keep him in the dark." The
quarrel grew hotter and hotter, till at last they parted
in anger and each went to his own home and from that
time their friendship was broken off.
And being separated they gave up hunting and took
to useful pursuits. Thus the old woman earned her
reward from ^e Raja.
XLIL A STORY TOLD BY A HINDU.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had two
sons and after their father's death they divided the
kingdom between them. The two brothers were inveter-
ate gamblers and spent -their time plajfing cards with
each other; for a long time fortune was equal, but one
day it turned against the elder brother and he lost and
KUWAR AND THE RAJAH'S DAUGHTER 145
lost until his money and his jewelry, his horses and his
elephants and every thing that he had, had been won
by his younger brother. Then in desperation he staked
his share in the kingdom and that too he lost.
Then the younger brother sent drummers through the
city to proclaim that the whole kingdom was his; the
shame of this was more than the elder prince could bear,
so he resolved to quit the country and he told his wife
of his intention and bade her stay behind. But his faithful
wife refused to be parted from him ; she vowed that he
had married her not for one day nor for two but for
good and all, and that where he went, there she would
go, and whatever troubles he met, she would share.
So he allowed her to come with him and the two set
off to foreign parts. After sometime their path led thero
through an extensive jungle and after travelling through
it for two days they at last lost their way completely;
their food gave out, they were faint with starvation and
torn with briars.
The prince urged his wife to return but she would
not hear of it, so they pushed on, supporting life on
jungle fruits ; sometimes the prince would go far ahead,
for his faithful wife could only travel slowly, and then
he would return and wait for her; at last he got tired
of leading her on and made up his mind to abandon
her. At night they lay down at the foot of a tree and
the prince thought "If wild animals would come and
eat us it would be the best that could happen. I cannot
bear to see my wife suffer any more ; although her flesh
is torn with thorns, she will not leave me. I will leave
her here; may wild beasts kill both her and me, but I
cannot see her die before my eyes." So thinking he
got up quietly and went off as quickly as he could.
When the princess woke and found that she had been
abandoned, she began to weep and wept from dawn to
noon without ceasing; at noon a being in the guise of
146 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
an old woman appeared and asked her why she wept,
and comforted her and promised to lead her out of the
wood and told her that Chando had had compassion on
her and would allow her to find her husband again if
they both lived.
So saying the old woman led the princess from the
forest and showed her the way to a great city where a
Raja lived. The princess went begging her way through
the city to the Raja's palace and there they engaged
her as a servant.
Now her husband had also escaped from the jungle
and sought employment as a labourer but no one would
give him work for more than a day or two, and at last
his search for work brought him to the city in which the
princess was ; and there he was engaged as a groom in
the palace stables. The prince had changed his name and
he had no chance of knowing that his wife was in the
palace, because she was confined to the women's appart-
ments ; so some years passed without their having news
of each other.
At last one day the princess happened to go on to
the roof and looking down at the stables saw and
thought she recognised her husband; then she leaned
over and listened till she heard his voice and at that
she was sure that it was he, so she hastened to the
Raja and begged to be allowed to meet her husband,
and the Raja sent to call the syce with the name which
the princess had given but no one came, for the prince
would not reveal himself. sThen the princess told their
story and how her husband had gambled away his half
of the kingdom. The Raja ordered any one with such
a history to come forward, as his wife was in the palace;
but the prince did not reveal himself
Then the princess said "Let all the syces cook rice
and bring me a bit of each man's cooking to taste."
They did so, and when she tasted the rice cooked by
THE RAIBAR AND THE LEOPARD 147
her husband, she at once said that it was his; her hus-
band was unable to deny it and admitted everything.
Then they took him away from his work in the stables
and let him live with his wife.
After a time the Raja wrote to the younger brother
asking whether he would restore the half of the king-
doni which he had won; and the younger brother ans-
wered that he would gladly do so, if his brother would
sign an agreement never to gamble any more; it was
with this object in view and to teach him the folly of
his ways that he had dispossessed him. The elder
brother gladly gave the required promise and returned
to his kingdom with his faithful wife and lived happily
ever afterwards.
XLIII. THE RAIBAR AND THE LEOPARD.
Once upon a time a Raibar was going backwards
and forwards between two families arranging a marriage
and part of the road which he used to travel ran through
a forest.
One day as he was going to the bride's house he
tooli; a sack with him intending to try and get the
loan of some Indian corn from the bride's relations;
but as he was passing through the piece of jungle he
suddenly met a leopard ; he was terribly frightened but
cpUepting his wits he addressed the animal thus " Leopard ;
i beg you not to - eat me ; I am engaged on a work
of great merit, I am making twO: men out of one."
This address amazed the leopard and he at once asked
the raibar whether he could make him into two, and
promised that if he could his life should be spared.
The raibar answered readily " Seeing that in pursuit of
my profession- I have made two men out of one all
over the country, of course I can make you into two
leopards if I try; all you have to do is to get into
148 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
this sack and keep quiet ; if you utter a sound you will
spoil the charm."
"Well," said the leopard, "I will try and see; I
undertake to keep quite quiet, and if you are successful
I promise to tell the whole race of leopards to spare
the lives of ratbars." So saying the leopard jumped into
the sack and allowed the man to tie him up tightly in
it. No sooner was this done than the raibar took the
sack on his head and carried it to the bank of a river
and having given it two or three hearty whacks with
his stick threw it into the water. The sack went floating
down the stream and it happened that lower down a
leopardess sat watching the water and when she saw
the sack coming along she thought that it was a dead
cow floating down. So when it came near she jumped
into the water and pulled it ashore.
She then proceeded to tear open the sack, when out
jumped the first leopard; he soon explained how he
came to be in the sack, and declared that the raibar's
promise had been fulfilled and that she was his destined
mate. The leopardess agreed and the two set to work
to tell all the other leopards what had happened and
what a kindness the raibar had done them; and so it
came to pass that to the present day leopards never
interfere with raibars when they are going about arranging
a marriage; no one ever heard of one being injured.
Meanwhile the raibar went on his way rejoicing at having
rid himself of the leopard. But the next year, while
engaged on the business of another marriage, the raibar
was passing through the same jungle when he came
face to face with the very leopard that he thought he
had safely disposed of; he at once took to his heels,
but the leopard called out to him not to be afraid and
to wait, as he had something to say to him. So the
raibar stopped and the leopard asked whether he did
not recognise him; the raibar stoutly denied all know-
THE UNGRATEFUL SNAKE 149
ledge of him. "Well," said the leopard "I am the
leopard of whom you made two out of one, and to
show my gratitude I will give you any reward you like ;
would you like a cow or a deer or any other animal?
I will kill you one and bring it to you."
When the raibar saw the turn that things had taken
he thought that he had better take advantage of it, so he
asked for a good large nilgai. The leopard told him to
come to a certain tree at noon the next day and he would
find the animal there. So they separated and the next
day at noon the raibar went to the tree and found a
fine nilgai wating for him, which he and his friends
took home and ate with joy.
XLIV. THE UNGRATEFUL SNAKE.
There was once a Raja and his dewan and they
each had one son; these sons were married in infancy
but as they grew up they never heard anything about
their having been married. When the boys reached
manhood and found no arrangements being made for
their weddings they began to wonder at the delay and
often talked about it, and in the end they agreed to
run away to another country. Soon after this resolve
of theirs some horse dealers came to their home with
horses to sell ; the two youths at once saw that if they
could each have a horse and learn to ride it, it would
be easy for them to run away from home. So they
hurried to their fathers and begged them to buy them
each one of the beautiful horses which the dealers had
brought. The Raja and the dewan did not like to dis-
appoint their sons so they bought the horses, to the great
delight of the boys, who used to ride them every day.
One day the Raja's son was out riding by himself
and he passed by a tank where a number of women
and girls were bathing and drawing water; as he came
150 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
galloping along the women ran back in a fright; and
as they could not draw their water while he was there,
an old woman came up to him and told him to go
away and not stay making eyes at the girls as if he
had no wife of his own: "What wife have I?", said
the prince, "I know nothing of having been married."
"You were married sure enough when you were an
infant," replied the old woman: "your wife is still in
her father's house, but now that you have grown up
they will probably bring her home to you this year."
Then the prince asked where his wife lived and having
learnt the name of the village he galloped off home and
at once began to question his mother about his marriage;
his mother told him that they intended to have the
bride brought home that year, but the prince was im-
patient and proposed that he should go off at once to
his father-in-law's and see his wife, and try to persuade
them to let her come back with him without any cere-
mony; his mother made no objection, so he got ready
for the journey and started off on horseback. He had
not gone far when he saw a field of thatching grass
on fire, and in the middle, surrounded by the flames,
was a huge poisonous snake, unable to escape.
As the prince rode by, the snake called out to him
"Prince, you are going joyously to bring home your
bride, and here am I in danger of being burned alive;
will you not have pity on me and save me? If you do
I will confer a boon on you." "But if I save you,"
objected the prince, "you will only eat me: snakes do
not know what gratitude is." "I am not of that kind,"
answered the snake: "here I am in danger of death, I
beseech you to have pity on me." These pleadings
prevailed and the prince got off his horse and beat out
the fire and then spread a cloth over the embers so
that the snake could crawl out. When the snake was
safe the prince asked for the boon that had been promised
THE UNGRATEFUL SNAKE 151
him: "No boon will you get" said the snake: "you did
a foolhardy thing in saving me, for now I am going to
eat you, and you cannot escape from me."
The prince saw that there was little hope for him
but he begged the snake to allow two or three judges
to decide whether it was fair that he should be killed,
after what he had done The snake agreed to this
provided that the judges were not human beings; he
was willing to be bound by the opinions of any one else.
They set out together to look for judges and soon
saw a herd of eattle resting under a banyan tree by
a pool of water, so they agreed to make these their
judges ; then the prince explained to one of the cows
and the banyan tree and the water what they were to
decide, whether it was fair for the snake, whose life he
had saved, now to want to kill him. The banyan tree
was the first to answer : it said " You did good to the
snake and your wages for doing good are evil; you
saved his life and he will now kill you, this is fair,
this is the justice we have learnt from human beings;
you enjoy the shade of us trees and in return you lop
off our branches and sit on them, and do us all manner
of injury; it is right that the snake should eat you."
Then the prince turned to the cow: "He may eat
you," answered the cow: "the tree is right, see how
men treat cattle; you drive away our calves from us
and take our milk and you beat us and make us work
hard; for all this illtreatment the snake shall eat you."
Then the prince asked the water what it had to say :
"I agree with the other two" said the water: "to
return evil for good is the justice of mankind, it is
by drinking water that your very lives are preserved;
yet you spit into it and wash dirty things in it; shall
not the snake return you evil for good?" So judgment
was delivered, and the snake wanted to eat the prince ;
but the prince asked the tree and the cow and the
152 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
water to listen while he made one prayer; he told
them how he had been married when he was too
young to know anything about it, and how he was
going for the first time to see his wife, when this mis-
fortune befell him; so he begged that he might be
allowed to go and see his bride and then be eaten on
his way back; the banyan tree asked what the snake
thought about this proposal and the snake said that it
would make no objection if the tree and the cow and
the water would be sureties for the return of the prince
within three days. So the prince promised them faith-
fully that he would return and they let him go.
The prince rode on to his father-in-law'^ house, and
when he arrived, a bed was brought out for him to sit
on and he was asked where he came from. When he
explained who he was, they at once brought water and
washed his feet and then gave him oil and a tooth stick
and took him to bathe; then they brought him curds
and dried rice to eat and afterwards killed a goat and
made a feast and showed him every honour*
That evening as his wife was rubbing his arms and
legs, the prince remained silent and downcast and showed
none of the joy of a bridegroom; and when his bride
asked what was the matter, he told her that he had only
come to see her for one day and that afterwards she
must try and forget all about him. At first he would
not tell her more, but when she urged him, he told her
how he had to go and surrender himself to the snake
on the next day. When she heard this she vowed that
she would go with him and die with him.
The next morning came and the prince said that he
must return, and his wife said that she was going with
him; so they made everything ready and set out on
their way. When they came within sight of the banyan
tree where the prince was to be killed, he tried to turn
his wife back but though he used force she refused to
THE UNGRATEFUL SNAKE 153
leave him and said that she would first see him killed
and then go home; so at last he let her accompany
him.
When they reached the tree she asked to be allowed
to go in front and be the first to meet the snake; to
this the prince assented. They had not gone far when
they saw the snake awaiting them in the path with its
crest raised, and when they drew near, the prince's bride
begged the snake to eat her first, as she had nowhere
to live if she survived her husband. The snake refused
and bade her go home to her parents; she said that
that was impossible; they had sold her and the prince
had bought her, in life and in death, bones and ashes.
But the snake would not listen and made for the prince
to eat him. His wife however kept in front of the snake
and would not let it pass; she called the banyan tree
to witness that the snake should not eat her husband
without first killing her ; without her husband she would
have no one to support her.
Then the snake promised to teach her an incantation
by means of which she could support herself, so saying,
the snake conferred some magic power upon and taught
her an incantation ; and promised her that if she took
some dust in her hand and repeated the incantation and
then blew on the dust, any person on whom she sprinkled
the dust would at once be burnt to ashes. Then the
prince's wife asked how she should restore the people
to life and the snake taught her that also, but she was
not satisfied and said that she must try at once to see
whether the snake was deceiving her or no; so the
snake bade her experiment on a tarop tree which grew
near. Thereupon she gathered up some dust and repeated
the incantation and blew on it and suddenly threw it
over the snake, which at once turned to ashes, and that
was the end of the snake.
Then the prince and his wife went on their way
154 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
rejoicing, and he was filled with wonder at the way
in which his bride had saved him by persisting in going
with him.
XLV. THE TIGER'S BRIDE.
One day a woman went to cut thatching grass and
she cut such a quantity that when she tied it up, the
bundle was too big for her to lift on to her head; so
she stood and called for some one to help her, but no
one was within hearing and no one came. She called
and called and at last began to promise that she would
give her daughter in marriage to any one who would
help her.
After she had called out this a few times, a tiger
suddenly appeared and asked what she wanted; she
explained her difficulty and the tiger undertook to lift
the load on to her head, if she would really give him
her daughter in marriage. She promised and with
the help of the tiger took up the bundle and went
home.
Two or three days after, the tiger presented himself at
her house and was duly married to the daughter. After
the wedding the couple started for the tiger's home ;
all the way the unhappy bride wept und sang: —
''How far off is our home, big head?"
" You can just see the mouth of the cave" answered the
tiger and in a short time they came to a large cave. Then
the tiger told her to set to work and cook a feast while
he went off and invited his friends to come and share it.
But the bride when left alone caught a cat and killed
it and hung it over the fire, so that its blood dropped
slowly into the pan and made a fizzling noise, as if
cooking were going on ; and then she ran off" to her
THE KILLING OF THE TIGER 155
mother's house and climbed a tree which grew near it
and began to sing: —
"You married me to a ti-ti-tiger:
You threw me to a bear:
Take back the necklace you gave me
Take back the bracelet and the diamonds and the coral."
Meanwhile the tiger returned with his friends and sat
down outside the cave and told his wife to be quick
with the cooking of the cakes for he heard the hissing
over the fire and thought that she was cooking. At
last as she did not come out, he got tired of waiting
and went in to fetch her: then he saw that she had
disappeared and had to go and tell his friends. They
were very angry at being cheated out of a feast, and
fell upon the tiger and beat him, till he ran away and
was seen no more : but his bride was left to flit from
tree to tree singing : —
"You married me to a ti-ti-tiger:
You threw me to a bear:
Take back the necklace you gave me
Take back the bracelet and the diamonds and the coral."
XLVI. THE KILLING OF THE TIGER.
They say that there was a time when all living things
had a common speech and animals and men could
understand each other, and in those days there was a
man-eating tiger which infested a jungle through which
a. highroad ran ; it preyed on people passing along the
road till no one ventured to travel, and as the country
was so unsafe, the people went in a body to the Raja
and told him of the ravages of the tiger and asked him
to send a force of soldiers to hunt and shoot it.
So the Raja called together all his soldiers and
promised to give half his kingdom to any one of them
156 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
who would kill the tiger, but not one of them was
brave enough to make the attempt ; they said that their
business was to fight men and not tigers and leopards;
then the Raja extended his offer to all his subjects and
the petitioners went home to consult about it; and the
news was published that the Raja would give half his
kingdom to the slayer of the tiger.
Now there was a poor man who was a very brave
shikari of big game, and cunning into the bargain, and
he offered to go and kill the tiger; They questioned
him carefully, and when they saw that he was in
earnest they took him to the Raja to hear from the
Raja's lips what his reward should be; and the Raja
promised, him half his kingdom, and wrote a bond to
that effect, for he thought that the tiger would surely
kill the man. Then the shikari said that he would start
the next morning and return the next day either with
the dead tiger or with bits of its ears and claws to show
that he had killed it. The Raja told the people to watch
carefully and see that the shikari did not cheat by taking
the claws and ears of a tiger with him.
The next morning the shikari started off and all he
took with him was a looking-glass and three pictures of
a tiger drawn on three pieces of paper and a hatchet;
he went to the road which the tiger frequented and
climbed a banyan tree and spent the night in it. The
tiger did not pass by at all that night but in the
morning it appeared and called out. "Who is up in
the tree?" The shikari said "It is I" "Come down
quickly," said the tiger, " I have been looking for you."
Wait a minute," answered the shikari, " I have been
looking for you also."
"What for?" said the tiger: "Tell me first why you
are looking for me," said the man: "To eat you," ans-
wered the tiger ; then the man said. " Well I have been
hunting for you to catch you and take you away. I
THE DREAM
157
have caught three or four like you and if you don't believe
me, let me get down and I will show you". The tiger
got into a fright and said : " Come down and show me."
So the shikari climbed down and uncovered his looking
glass and told the tiger to look and he reflected in the
glass the pictures of the tigers which he had brought
and said, "Now I am going to catch you and put you
in here also." The tiger asked why he was to be caught
and the shikari said that it was because he had made
the road unsafe by killing travellers; then the tiger
begged and prayed to be let off and promised that he
would never kill any travellers again. At last the shikari
said that he would let him go, if he would allow him to
cut off his claws and the tips of his ears and the tip of
his tongue as a pledge of his good faith. The tiger said,
" Well, you may cut off one claw from each foot and the
very tip of my ears and tongue." So the shikari cut them off
with his hatchet and, after again warning the tiger, went
back home ; and then presented himself with all his friends
before the Raja and the Raja gave him the promised
reward. But the tiger's tongue festered and, after roaring
with pain for a whole day, it died.
XLVII. THE DREAM.
One night as a man and his wife lay talking in bed,
the woman told her husband that she had dreamt that
in a dertain place she had dug up a pot full of rupees, and
she proposed that they should go and look for it and
see whether the dream was true. While they talked, it
chanced that some thieves, who had climbed on to the
roof, overheard the conversation and at once decided to
forestall the others. So they went off to the place which
the woman had described and began to dig, and after
digging a little they were delighted to come on a pot
with a lid on. But when they took off the lid an enormous
158 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
snake raised its head and hissed at them. At this the
thieves cursed the woman who had misled them and
agreed to take the snake and drop it through the roof
on to the man and his wife as they lay in bed. So
they shut the snake up again and carried it off to the
house and, making a hole in the thatch, dropped it through.
But as it fell the snake changed into a stream of money,
which came rattling down on the couple below; the
thieves found a snake, but it was not a real snake, it
was Thakur ; and it was his will to give the money to the
man and his wife. When these two had recovered from
their astonishment, they gathered up the money, and
lived in wealth ever afterwards.
XLVm. THE KING OF THE BHUYANS.
There was once a king of the Bhuyans and near his
palace was a village of Santals ; he was a kind ruler
and both Santals and Bhuyans were very happy under
his sway. But when he died, he was succeeded by his
son, who was a very severe master and soon fell out
with the Santals. If he found any cattle or buffaloes
grazing anywhere near his crops, he had the cowherds
beaten severely : so that no one dared to take the cattle
in that direction.
The Santals were very angry at this and longed to
get even with the Raja ; they planned to turn the cattle
into the Raja's crops at night when no one could see
them or catch them, but in the end their courage failed
them.
One year after the rice had been cut, but before the
millet crop was gathered, the youths and maidens of the
Santal village had a dance and danced all night till
nearly morning ; then they agreed that it was not worth
while to go to bed and they had better take the cattle
out to graze at once.
THE KING OF THE BHUYANS 159
After grazing their fill, the cattle all collected at the
midday resting place and the cowherds were so sleepy
after their night's dancing, that they fell fast asleep on the
bare ground. After a time the buffaloes began to move
again and seeing a nice field of millet belonging to the
Raja soon made their way to it and grazed the whole
field down. The Raja happened to pass that way and
was filled with wrath at the sight ; he at once ordered his
iipahis to go and beat the cowherds within an inch of
their lives and so the sipahis ran to the place with
sticks. Their approach roused the sleeping cowherds who
jumped up and ran off home as hard as they could;
all but the servant of the village paramanik (assistant
headman) he did not run away but went to drive the
cattle out of the field ; he knew that this was his duty
to his master and he was resolved to do his duty even
at the cost of his life.
As all the other boys had got away the sipahis
turned their attention to him, but as they aimed blows
at him with the sticks, he caught the blows on his arms
and the sticks shivered to atoms without harming him ;
so then they went to kick him but a great cibei snake
came rustling up behind them; so they saw it was no
use to contend with him and desisted: whereupon he
drove all the village cattle home in triymph.
The sipahis reported to the Raja how the cowherds
had all made good their escape, and how the paramanik's
herd boy had driven off the cattle. Then the Raja
told them to go that afternoon at the time the cattle
were brought home for the night and wait at the
end of the village street and then give the cowherds
the thrashing they deserved. The sipahis did as they
were ordered and that evening waited for the returning
herd boys; and caught them as they came home and
thrashed them within an inch of their lives. The
others were all left senseless on the ground: but the
i6o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
sipahis did not dare to lay hands on the paramanik's
herd boy, he drove the cattle back into the village, and
told the villagers what had been done to their sons.
So the villagers went out with beds and carried ihe
wounded boys home ; then they assembled and resolved
to go and punish the Raja, so they went to him and
asked what he meant by killing their children. "Dear
me," said the Raja, "are they really dead?" "Well,
if not not quite dead, they are very ill," was the answer.
"I am sorry," said the Raja: "I admit that 1 have
done wrong, but if you will forgive me this time, I
will undertake to cure them in a minute and make them
as well as ever; go and fetch them here."
So the Santals went off to fetch the wounded cowherds
and carried them to the Raja, all lying senseless on
beds and put them down before him. While they were
away the Raja had told his sipahis to grind some good
hot chilis ; and when the cowherds were brought to him
he told the sipahis to thrust the chili paste up their
noses; this was done and the smarting soon made the
cowherds jump up and run away in a very lively fashion,
and that was the way the Raja kept his word and
cured them.
XLIX. THE FOOLISH SONS.
There was once a man of the blacksmith caste who had
six sons ; the sons were all married and the whole family
lived together. But the sons' wives took to quarrelling
and at last the sons went to their parents and proposed
that they should set up separate households, as the women
folk could not live in peace.
The blacksmith and his wife did not like the idea at
all and pointed out that it would be most inadvisable ;
while, so far, there was plenty of food and clothing for
all, they would find it much more expensive to have
THE FOOLISH SONS i6i
seven separate households and split up what was quite
enough so long as they lived together, and what was
to become of their old parents who were now too old
to work? The sons protested that they would support
their father and mother as long as they lived, even
though the familly separated.
At last the old man said that he would put them to
the test and see whether they were clever enough to
manage their own affairs and smart enough to cheat
people into giving them what they wanted. " I will see,"
said he, " how you would manage to support the family
in time of famine or if we fell into poverty. I and your
mother have managed to bring up a large family, and
you know nothing of the anxiety that it has cost us ;
you have merely had to enjoy yourselves and eat your
meals; if you insist on it, I will let you separate, but
don't blame me afterwards. However to-morrow I will
take you on a journey and find some means of testing
your cleverness."
So the next morning they made ready for the
journey; their father only allowed them to take one
meal of rice tied up in their cloths and he gave each
of them one pice, which he said was their inheritance.
They set off and after travelling some way they sat
down and ate up their rice and then went on again.
By the middle of the afternoon they began to feel hungry,
so the father proposed their going to a bazar which was
in sight ; but between them and the bazar was a channel
of stagnant water, very deep, and with its surface covered
by a coating of weeds. They tried to cross, but directly
they set foot on it they sank through the weeds, and
it was too deep for wading. So their father said they
would all camp on the bank and he would see whether they
were clever enough to get across the channel and bring
food for a meal ; if they could do that he would believe
that they could support their families in time of famine.
i62 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
So the old man spread his cloth on the ground and
set down and watched them try their luck one by one.
The eldest brother first jumped up to try but he could
not cross the channel ; everytime he tried, he sank through
the weeds, at last he gave up in despair and admitted
that he could not feed the party. Then the other
brothers all tried in turn and failed. At last it came to
the turn of the youngest ; he modestly said that he was
not likely to succeed where his elders had failed but he
would have a try, so he went to the edge of the water
and spreading out his cloth on the weeds lay down on
it so that his weight was distributed ; in this position
the weeds supported him and he managed to wriggle
himself across on his face to the other side.
Once across, he went to the bazar, and going to a
shop began to talk with the shopkeeper ; after a little he
asked for the loan of an anna ; the shopkeeper said that
he could not lend to a stranger ; the blacksmith's son gave
the name of some village as his home and pressed for the
loan, promising to pay him one anna as interest within
a week and pulling out his pice he said "See here, I
will pay you this pice as part of the interest in advance."
At this the shopkeeper suffered himself to be persuaded
and lent him the anna.
With this the blacksmith's son went off to a second
shop and begged for the loan of four annas, as he had
pressing need of it ; he promised to pay an anna a week
interest, and to pay down at once the interest for the
first week. After some hesitation the shopkeeper was
deceived into lending the four annas. Then he went off
to another shop and borrowed a rupee by promising to
pay eight annas a month as interest and putting down
four annas as advance.
Then he went to a Marwari's shop and asked for the
loan of ten rupees ; the Marwari asked for interest at the
rate of one rupee a day ; tbe blacksmith's son protested
KORA AND HIS SISTER 163
that that was too high but offered to pay one rupee every
two days and to pay one rupee of interest in advance;
the Marwari hesitated, but after being given a name and
address — which were however false — he gave way
and took his signature to a bond and lent him the ten
rupees. At this the blacksmith's son set off in triumph
to rejoin his brothers ; he crossed the water in the same
way as before and took the ten rupees to his father.
Then they all went on to another bazar and bought
dried rice and sweetmeats and curds and had a grand
feast. Then their father proceeded to point out to his
sons how, except the youngest, they were all useless;
they had been unable to cross the channel or to make
anything of their own pice of capital ; they had nothing
to answer, and all went home and from that day nothing
was heard of any proposal to divide the family until
the old father and mother died.
L. KORA AND HIS SISTER.
There were once seven brothers and they had one
sister who was the youngest of the family. The six
eldest brothers were married but no wife had been found
for the youngest; for three years enquiries were made
to try and find a suitable bride for him, but all in vain.
At last the young man, whose name was Kora, told his
parents and brothers not to trouble any more, as he
would find a wife for himself; he intended to bring a
flowering plant from the forest and plant it by the stand
on which the watering pots were kept, and then he
would marry any maiden who picked one of the flowers
and put it in her hair.
His father and mother approved of this proposal, so
the next day he brought some sort of flowering plant
and planted it by the water-pot stand. He charged all
his family to be most careful that no one of his own
i64 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
relations picked the flower and also to warn any of the
village girls who wanted to pick it, that if she did so
and put it in her hair, she would thereby become his
wife ; but if, knowing this, anyone wished to do so, they
were not to prevent her.
The neighbours soon got to hear what the plant meant
and used often to come and look at it, and Kora
watched it growing, till after a time it produced a bud
and then a beautiful and sweet-scented flower. All the
village girls came to see the beautiful flower ; and one day
Kora's sister when she went to the water-stand to get
some water to drink, caught hold of it and longed to
pick it, it looked so pretty. Her mother saw what she
was doing and scolded her for touching the forbidden
flower, but the girl begged to see what it would look
like in her hair ; there could be no harm done if she
pulled the whole plant up by its roots and put it in
her hair and then replanted it; no one would know
what had happened. In spite of her mother's remon-
strances she insisted on doing this and having seen how
the flower looked in her hair carefully replanted it.
Soon afterwards Kora came home and went to see his
flower; he knew at once that some one had worn it
and called to his mother and asked who it was. She
protested that she knew nothing about the matter, but
Kora said that he could tell by the smell that it had
been worn and then he showed that there was also a
hair sticking to the flower. Then his mother admitted
that in spite of all she could say, his sister had worn
the flower and planted it again in the ground.
When she saw that she was found out, the girl began
to cry, but her father said that it was clearly fated that
she and Kora should marry and this was the reason why
they had been unable to find any other bride; so they
must now arrange for the wedding. Accordingly rice
was got ready and all the usual preparations made for
KORA AND HIS SISTER 165
a marriage. The unfortunate girl saw that flight was
her only means of escape from such a fate, so one day
she ran away; all she took with her was a pet parrot.
For many days she travelled on and one day she
stopped by a pool to bathe and as she rubbed her limbs
she collected the scurf that she rubbed off her skin and
put in on the ground in one place ; then she went on
with her bathing; but at the place where she had put
the scurf of her skin, a palm tree sprang up and grew
so rapidly, that, by the time she came out of the water,
it had become a large tree.
The girl was struck by this strange sight and at once
thought that the tree would afford her a safe refuge;
so she climbed up it with her parrot in her hand and
when safely seated among the leaves she begged the
palm tree to grow so tall that no one would be able
to find her, and the tree grew till it reached an unusual
height. So the girl stayed in the tree top and the parrot
used to go every day and bring her food. Meanwhile
her parents and brothers searched high and low for her
for two or three days, for the wedding day was close at
hand, but their search was of course in vain ; and they
concluded that the girl must have drowned herself in
some river.
Time passed and one day at noon a Mohuli girl, who
was taking her basket-ware to market, stopped to rest in
the shade of the palm tree : and as she sat there, Kora's
sister called to her from the top of the tree and asked
her to give her a small winnowing fan in exchange for
a bracelet. The Mahuli girl told her to throw the bracelet
down first. Kora's sister made no objection to this, and
when she had got the bracelet, the Mahuli girl threw up
a winnowing fan which soared right up to where Kora's
sister was sitting. Before the Mahuli girl went on her
way, Kora's sister made her promise never to let anyone
see the bracelet when she went about selling her baskets
i66 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
as otherwise it would be stolen from her ; and secondly
on no account to let it be known that there was anyone
in the palm tree, on pain of death. The MahuK girl kept
her promise and whenever she went out selling baskets
she used to keep her bracelet covered with her cloth.
One day it chanced that she went to the house where
Kora lived to sell her wares and they asked her why
it was that she kept her arm covered ; she told them
that she had a sore on it; they wanted to see how big
the sore was, but she refused to show it, saying that
if she showed it she would die. They laughed at such
a ridiculous story and at last forced her to show her
arm, which of course was quite well; but they at once
recognised the bracelet and asked where she had got
it from. The Mahuli girl refused to tell them and said
that if she did, she would die. "What a foolish girl
you are" they objected "first you say you will die if
you show us your arm and then if you tell us where
you got this bracelet from ; it belonged to our daughter
whom we have lost, and so you must tell us I Come,
we will give you a basket full of rice if you tell us."
The Mahuli girl could not resist this offer, and when
the basket of rice was produced, she told them where
the palm tree was, in which Kora's sister was hiding.
In all haste the father and mother went to the tree and
found that it was much too high for them to climb : so
they begged their daughter to come down and promised
not to marry her to her brother; but she would not
come down: then they sang: —
" You have made a palm tree from the scrapings of your skin
And have climbed up into it, daughter 1
Come daughter, come down."
But she only answered: —
"Father and mother, why do you cry?
I must spend my life here:
"Do you return home."
KORA AND HIS SISTER 167
So they went home in despair.
Then her sisters-in-law came in their turn and sang: —
"Palm tree, p^m tree, give us back our sister:
The brother and sister have got to be married."
But she would not answer them nor come down from
the tree, so they had to go home without her.
Then all her other relations came and besought her
to come down, but she would not listen to them. So
they went away and invoked a storm to come to their
aid. And a storm arose and cold rain fell, till the girl
in the palm tree was soaked and shivering, and the wind
blew and swayed the palm tree so that its top kept
touching the ground. At last she could bear the cold
and wet no more and, seizing an opportunity when the
tree touched the ground, she slipped off. Her relations
had made all the villagers promise on no account to
let her into their houses; so when she went into the
village and called out at house after house no one an-
swered her or opened to her. Then she went to her own
home and there also they refused to open to her.
But Kora had lit a big fire in the cow house and sat
by it warming himself, knowing that the girl would have to
come to him ; and as she could find no shelter elsewhere
she had to go to his fire, and then she sat and warmed
herself and thought "I fled for fear of this man and
now I have come back to him ; this is the end, I can
no longer stay in this world; the people will not even
let me into their houses. I have no wish to see them
again."
So she sat and thought, and when she was warmed,
she lay down by the side of Kora; and he wore tied
to his waist a nail-cutter; she unfastened this and cut
her throat with it as she lay. Her death struggles
aroused Kora, and he got up and saw the ground
covered with her blood and he saw that she had
i68 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
killed herself with his nail-cutter; then he took counsel
with himself and also cut his throat in the same way.
In the morning the two corpses were found lying side
by side, and it was seen that their blood refused to
mingle but had flowed in opposite directions.
So they took the bodies away to burn them and laid
them on one pyre; and when the fire was lit, it was
seen that the smoke from the two bodies rose separately
into the air. Then all who saw it, said " We wished to
marry brother and sister but Chando would not approve
of it; see how their blood would not mingle though
spilt on the same floor, and how the smoke from the
pyre rises in two separate columns; it is plain that the
marriage of brother and sister is wrong." From fhat
time such mariages have been discontinued.
LI. A STORY ON CASTE.
There was once a village inhabited only by Musahars.
Among them was one girl who was so beautiful that
she seemed more than human. Her father and mother
were so proud of her looks that they determined not
to marry her to a man of their own caste. They were
constantly discussing whom they should choose as a
son-in-law; one day they began to consider who were
the greatest persons in the world. The old woman was
of opinion that there was no one greater than Chando,
the Sun God, and suggested that they should marry
the girl to him. Her husband agreed and off they set
and presented themselves before Chando. Chando asked
why they had come. "O Chando, we understand that
you are the greatest being in the world and we have
come to marry our daughter to you." Chando answered
" I fancy there is some one greater than I," " Who is
he?" asked the parents. "The cloud is greater than
I, for it can hide my face and quench my rays."
A STORY ON CASTE 169
At this the father and mother hurried oflf with their
daughter in search of the Cloud, and when they found
him, told him that they had brought their daughter to
give him to wife, as he was the greatest being in the world.
"I may be great," said the Cloud, "but there is a greater
than I, the Wind. The Wind rises and blows me away
in a minute." So they went in search of the Wind and
when they found him, explained to him why they had
brought him their daughter. The Wind said "I am
strong but there are stronger than I : the Mountains are
stronger. I can blow things down or whirl them away,
but I cannot move the mountains."
So on they went to the Mountain and explained their
errand. The Mountain said "I am great but there are
more powerful than I. The ground-rat is more powerful,
for however high I may be the ground-rats burrow holes
in me and I cannot resist them."
The poor parents by this time began to feel rather
discouraged, but still they made up their minds to
persevere and went on to look for the ground-rat.
They found him and offered him their daughter in
marriage, but the ground-rat denied that he was the
most powerful being on earth, the Musahars were more
powerful for they lived by digging out ground-rats and
eating them.
The hapless couple went home very dejectedly,
reflecting that they had begun by despising their own
caste and had gone in search of something greater
and had ended where they began. So they arranged
to marry their daughter to a man of their own caste
after all.
Moral. You should not despise your own caste or
race; you cannot help what caste you are born into.
A Santal may learn to read and write and associate
with men of good position and thereby his mind may
be perverted. He may wish to change his caste and
170 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
become a Sadhu, or a Kherwar, or a Boistab, or a
Mussulman, or a Christian or anything else ; but people
will still know him for a beef-eating Santal. If he
becomes a Christian, no one will think him the equal
of a Saheb or a Brahman; no Saheb will marry his
daughter or give him his daughter in marriage. Remember
what happened to the Musahar, who despised his own
caste. God caused you to be born in a certain caste.
He and not we made the different castes and He knows
what is good and bad for us.
LIL TIPI AND TEPA.
TiPl and Tepa dwelt together and lived on baked
cakes. One day they met a bear in the jungle. "Now
I will eat you " growled the bear. " Spare us," said Tipi
and Tepa "and to-morrow we will beg some food and
bake it into cakes and give it to you." So the bear
let them go away to beg; but when they came back
they ate the food which they had procured and then
hid themselves inside a hollow gourd. The bear came
and looked about for them but could not find them and
went away.
The next day Tipi and Tepa again went out begging
and as luck would have it again met the bear. "Now
I will eat you" said the bear. "No" said they "let
us go and beg some food for you." So they went
off begging and came back and baked cakes and ate
them and then hid inside the gourd. The bear came
and carried off the gourd on its shoulder and began to
pick plums and other fruit and put them into the gourd.
As fast as the fruit was put in Tipi and Tepa ate it
up. "It is a very funny thing that the gourd does not
become full" thought the bear. But Tepa ate so much
that at last he burst, with such a noise that the bear
threw down the gourd and ran away.
THE CHILD WITH THE EARS OF AN OX 171
LIII. THE CHILD WITH THE EARS OF AN OX.
Once upon a time a son was born to a certain Raja
and the child had the ears of an ox. The Raja was
very much ashamed and let no one know. But the
secret could not be kept from the barber who had to
perform the ceremony of shaving the child's head.
However the Raja made the barber vow not to tell
anyone of what he had seen.
So the barber went away, but the secret which he
might not tell had un unfortunate effect; it made his
stomach swell to an enormous size. As the barber went
along in this unhappy condition he met a Dom who
asked why his stomach was so swollen. The barber
said that it was because he had shaved the Raja's
child and had seen that it had the ears of an ox.
Directly he had broken his vow and blurted out the
secret, his stomach returned to its usual size.
The Dom went his way and cut down a tree and
made a drum out of the wood, and went about playing
on the drum and begging. He came to the Raja's
palace and there he drummed and sang: —
"The son of the Raja
Has the ears of an ox."
When the Raja heard this, he was very angry, and
swore to punish the barber who must have broken his
vow. But the Dom assured the Raja that he knew
nothing about the matter; that it was the drum that
sang the words and not he and that he had no idea
what they meant. So the Raja was pacified and gave
the Dom a present and sent him away and the barber
was not punished.
173 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
LIV. THE CHILD WHO KNEW HIS FATHER.
Once upon a time there was a girl whose parents
took the greatest care that she should not be familiar
with any of the young men of the village. But in spite
of their precautions she formed an intimacy with a
young man and was presently found to be with child.
When this became known the villagers held a pan-
chayat to enquire into the matter, but the girl flatly
declined to give any information and her father and
brothers were unable to point out the offender. So the
village elders decided to let the matter stand over till
the child was born.
When the birth took place the question arose in
whose name its head should be shaved; as its father
was still unknown, the villagers decided that this should
be settled when the child was old enough to talk. So
when the child was two or three years old and could
prattle a little, the girl's father went to the headman
and paranic and asked them what was to be done. They
said that he must pay a fine to them and another to
the villagers, because he had made the village unclean
for so long, and give a feast to the villagers and then
they would find out the father of the child and make
him marry the girl; and if he refused to do this, he
would be outcasted. The unfortunate man agreed and
then the jog manjhi and godet were sent to call all the
men of the neighbourhood to a meeting.
They assembled in their best clothes and pagris and
sat down in rows, and in the middle a circle was drawn on
the ground; then prayers were offered to Chando and
the child was set in the circle and told to find its father.
The child began to walk slowly along the lines of men
but it did not stop till it came to its real father, who
was sitting a little apart, and then it threw itself into
JOGESHWAR'S MARRIAGE 173
his arms. Thus the truth was discovered and the man
married the girl and, as he was very poor, went to live
in his father-in-law's house.
LV. JOGESHWAR'S MARRIAGE.
Once upon a time there was a young man of the
weaver caste, named Jogeshwar. He was an orphan and
lived all alone. One summer he planted a field of
pumpkins on the sandy bed of a river. The plants grew
well and bore plenty of fruit : but when the pumpkins
were ripe, a jackal found them out and went every
night and feasted on them. Jogeshwar soon found out
from the foot-marks who was doing the damage ; so he
set a snare and a few days later found the jackal
caught in it. He took a stick to beat its Ufe out, but
the jackal cried: "Spare me and I will find you a
wife." So Jogeshwar stayed his hand and released the
jackal who promised at once to set off about the business.
The jackal kept his word and went to a city where
a Raja lived. There he sat down on the bank of one
of the Raja's tanks. To this tank the servants from the
palace brought the pots and dishes to be washed, and
to this tank also came the Rani and princesses to bathe.
Whenever the servants came to wash their dishes, the
jackal kept on repeating: "What sort of a Raja is
this whose plates are washed in water in which people
have bathed? there is no Raja like Raja Jogeshwar : he
eats of golden plates and yet he never uses them a
second time but throws them away directly he has eaten
off them once."
The servants soon carried word to the Raja of the
jackal who sat by the tank and of his story of Raja
Jogeshwar, Then the Raja sent for the jackal and
asked why he had come: the jackal answered that he
was looking for a bride for Raja Jogeshwar. Now
174 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the Raja had three or four daughters and he thought
that he saw his way to a fine match for one of them.
So he sent for the young women and asked the jackal
to say whether one of them would be a suitable bride
for Raja Jogeshwar. The jackal chose the second sister
and said that he would go and get the consent of Raja
Jogeshwar.
The jackal hurried back and told the astonished weaver
that he had found a Raja's daughter for him to marry.
Jogeshwar had nothing to delay him and only asked
that an early day might be fixed for the wedding. So
the jackal went back to the Raja and received from
him the knotted string that fixed the date of the wedding.
The jackal had now to devise some means by which
Jogeshwar could go through the wedding ceremonies
without his poverty being found out. He first went to
the Raja and asked how many attendants Raja Jogeshwar
should bring with him, as he did not want to bring more
than the bride's father could entertain. The Raja was
too proud to fix any number and said they could bring
as many as they liked.
Jogeshwar having no relations and no money, was
quite unable to arrange for a grand procession to escort
him; he could only just afford to hire a palki in which
to be carried to the bride's house ; so the jackal sent
word to all the jackals and paddy birds of the neigh-
bourhood to come to a feast at the palace of the bride,
an invitation which was eagerly accepted. At the lime
fixed they started off, with all the paddy birds riding
on the backs of the jackals. When they came within
sight of the palace, the jackal ran on ahead and invited
the Raja to come out and look at the procession as
there was still time to send them back, if they were too
many, but it would be a great disgrace if they were
allowed to arrive and find no entertainment. The Raja
went out to look and when he saw the procession
JOGESHWAR'S MARRIAGE 175
stretching away for a distance of two miles or more
with all the paddy birds looking like white horsemen
as they rode on the backs of the jackals, his heart failed
him and he begged the jackal to send them away, as
he could not entertain such a host.
So then the jackal hurried back and turned them ail
away and Jogeshwar reached the palace, accompanied
only by his palki bearers.
Before the wedding feast, the jackal gave Jogeshwar
some hints as to his behaviour. He warned him that
three of four kinds of meat and vegetables would be
handed round with the rice, and bade him to be sure
to help himself from each dish — of course in his own
house the poor weaver had never had more than one
dish to eat with his rice — and when pan was handed to
him after the feast he was not to take any until he
had a handful of money given him ; by such behaviour
he would lead every one to think that he was really a
prince. Jogeshwar did exactly as he was told and was
thought a very grand personage.
The next evening Jogeshwar set oflf homewards with
his bride, the bride's brothers and attendants accom-
panying them. They travelled on and on till the bride's
party began to grow tired and kept asking the jackal
how much further they had to go. The jackal kept on
putting them off, till at last they came in sight of a grove
of palm trees, and he told them that Raja Jogeshwar's
palace stood among the palm trees but was so old and
weather worn that it could not be seen from a distance.
When they reached the palm grove and found nothing
but Jogeshwar's humble hut, the bride's brothers turned
on the jackal and asked what he meant by deceiving
them. The jackal protested that he had told no lies:
the weaver ate every day off plates made of dry leaves
and threw them away when done with and that was
all he meant when he talked of golden plates. At this
176 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
excuse they turned on him and wanted to beat him,
but he ran away and escaped.
The bride's friends went back and told the Raja how
things had turned out and as divorce was not lawful for
them, the Raja could only send for his daughter and
her husband and give them an estate to live on.
LVL THE STRONG MAN.
There was once a Strong man but no one knew of
his strength. He was in the service of a farmer who
made him headman over all his laboures. In those days
much of the country was still covered with jflngle. One
day the farmer chose a piece of forest land which he
thought suitable for cultivation and told his labourers to
set to work and clear it, and as usual after giving his
orders he troubled himself no more about the matter, as
he could fully rely on the Strong man.
The next morning, the Strong man set the other
labourers to work ploughing a field and then said that
he would go and have a look at the jungle which his
master wanted cleared. So he went off alone with only
a stick in his hand. When he reached the place, he
walked all round it, and saw how much could be made
into good arable land, and then he began to clear it.
He pulled up the trees by the roots and piled them into
a heap and he took the rocks and threw them to one
side and made the ground quite clear and smooth, and
then went back to the house. On being asked why he
had been so long away, he answered that he had been
pulling up a few bushes at the place which was to be
cleared.
The following morning the Strong man told the farm
labourers to take their ploughs to the clearing and begin
to plough it. When the farmer heard this, he was puzzled
to think how the land could be ready for ploughing so
THE STRONG MAN 177
soon, and went to see it and to his amazement found
the whole land cleared, every tree pulled up by the roots
and all the rocks removed.
Then he asked the Strong man whether he had done
the work by himself. The Strong man answered "no,"
a number of people had volunteered to help him and
so the work had been finished in a day.
The farmer said nothing but he did not believe the
story and saw that his servant must really be a man
of marvellous strength. Neither he nor the farm labourers
let any one else know what had happened, they kept it
to themselves.
Now the Strong man's wages were twelve measures
of rice a year. After working for four years he made
up his mind to leave his master and start farming on his
own account. So he told the farmer that he wished to
leave but offered to finish any work there was to do
before he went, that no one might be able to say that
he had gone away, leaving his work half done. The
farmer assured him that there was nothing for him to
do and gave him rice equal to his four years' wages.
The rice made two big bandis, each more than an ordin-
ary man could lift, but the Strong man slung them on
to a bamboo and carried them off over his shoulder.
After he had gone a little way, it struck the farmer
that it would not do to let him display his strength in this
way and that it would be better if he took the rice away
at night. So he had the Strong man called back and
told him that there was one job which he had forgotten
to finish; he had put two bundles of sabai grass into
the trough to steep and had forgotten to twist it into
string. Without a word the Strong man went and picked
the sabai out of the water and began to twist it, but
he could tell at once by the feel that the sabai had
only just been placed in the water and he charged the
farmer with playing a trick on him. The farmer swore
178 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
that there was no trick and, rather than quarrel, the
Strong man went on with the work.
While he was so engaged the farmer offered him some
tobacco, and the Strong man took it without washing and
wiping his hands. Now no one should prepare or chew
tobacco while twisting sabai; if one does not first wash
and dry one's hands one's strength will go. The Strong
man knew this, but he was so angry at being called back
on false pretences that he forgot all about it.
But when he had finished the string and the farmer
said that he might go, he essayed to take up the two
bandis of rice as before. To his sorrow he found that
he could not lift them. Then he saw the mistake that
he had made. He had to leave one bandi behind and
divide the other into two halves and sling them on the
bamboo and carry them off with him.
The Strong man's cultivation did not prosper, and
after three or four years he found himself at the end
of his means and had again to take service with a
farmer.
One day when field work was in full swing the Strong
man had a quarrel with his new master. So when he
had finished the morning's ploughing he pulled the iron
point of the ploughshare out of its socket and snapped
it in two. Then he took the pieces to his master and
explained that it had caught on the stump of a tree and
got broken. The master took the broken share to the
blacksmith and had it mended. The next day the Strong
man went through the same performance and his master
had again to go the blacksmith. The same thing happen-
ed several days running, till at last the farmer decided
to keep watch and see what really happened. So he
hid himself and saw the Strong man snap the plough-
share in two ; but in view of such a display of strength
he was much too frightened to let his servant know that
he had found out the trick that was being played on
THE RAJA'S ADVICE 179
him. He took the pieces to the blacksmith as usual
and at the smithy he found some of his friends and
told them what had happened. They advised him to
set the Strong man to twisting sabai string and then
by some pretext induce him to take tobacco. The
farmer did as they advised and in about a fortnight
the Strong man lost all his strength and became as
other men. Then his master dismissed him and he
had to go back to his house and his strength never
returned to him.
LVII. THE RAJA'S ADVICE.
Once upon a time an aged Raja lay dying. Before
he breathed his last he sent for his only son and gave
him the following advice. "My son," he said, "never
go on a journey alone ; do not associate with low people,
for if you do no one will respect you ; never confide a
secret to your wife ; do not tell outsiders the affairs of
your house; do not let village affairs go beyond the
village street, and never get into a rage."
The son succeeded to the Raja and shortly afterwards
set out to pay a visit to his wife's relations. He started
alone and after going some distance he remembered his
father's injunctions never to go on a journey alone. He
had gone too far to go back and he saw no one within
call, so he looked about and presently found a crab
hole. He set to work and dug out the crab and fixing
it in his pagri continued his journey.
By-and-bye he came to a river. Now in this river
lived a crocodile, which had leagued with a crow to
destroy travellers crossing the river. Whenever the
crow saw anyone coming, it gave warning to the crocodile,
and the crocodile then seized the traveller as he catered
the river, while the crow pecked out his eyes. In this
way they had been the death of many trave:llers. So
i8o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
when the crow saw the young Raja coming, it cawed
to the crocodile, which hastened to the ford and seized
the Raja as he stepped into the water, while the crow
flew at his head. But the crab caught the crow by the
leg and nipped it so hard that the crow, in agony, called
out to the crocodile to let the man go, as it was being
killed. So the crocodile released its hold and the Raja
struggled to the bank, and then caught the crow which
was held fast by the crab and wrung its neck. Then
he went back home with the crab, reflecting on the
wisdom of his father's advice.
Later on, the Raja thought that he would put another
of his father's maxims to the proof and see what would
happen if he told his wife a secret. So he took a
spade and buried an old earthen pot in the corner of
his garden. He let his wife see him and she promptly
asked what he was burying; he put her off", but that
night she insisted so much on knowing, that, after swear-
ing her to secrecy, he told her that a child had come
straying to his house and he had killed it to obtain
good luck and had buried the body.
Time passed, and one day the Raja had a quarrel
with his wife, he began to beat her and she in return
abused him and kept on calling out that he was a murderer,
who had buried a child in his garden. Their next door
neighbour heard all this and, directly she found the
Raja's wife alone, asked whether what she said was true.
The Raja's wife, being still in a passion, asserted that it
was quite true. The story was soon all over the town,
and the townspeople rose and seized the Raja and charged
him with the murder. Then he took them to the garden
and made them dig up what he had buried and they
found only an old pot.
So they had to pay him compensation for making a
false charge, and the Raja valued more than ever the
advice given him by his father.
THE FOUR JOGIS i8i
LVIII. THE FOUR JOGIS.
Once four Jogis were out on a begging expedition
and came to a city were a Raja lived. As they went
along they discussed how they should beg of the Raja ;
and while they were discussing the point, they saw a
field rat and one of them exclaimed "I know how I
shall beg of him 1 I shall say ' See, he throws up the
earth, scrapety scrape 1" This did not help the other
three, but, further on, some frogs jumped into a pond as
they passed by, and one of the others at once said " I
know what I shall say ! I shall say ' plumpety plump I
down he has sat." A little later, they saw a pig wallow-
ing in the mud, and the third Jogi called out " I have
itl I shall say "Rub away, rub away 1 Now some more
water I Rub away, rub awayl I know, my boys, what
you are going to do." The fourth Jogi was still in
perplexity but, when they came in sight of the Raja's
city, he exclaimed " I know what I shall say " Highways
and byeways, what a big city 1 The kotwal is going his
rounds, his rounds."
Then they got a man to write down these four forms
of address on a sheet of paper and presented it to the
Raja. The Raja took it, and read it, and could not
make head or tail of it. And when the four Jogis saw
him looking so puzzled, they got frightened and took to
their heels, for they could not read themselves and
were not sure of what the paper really contained.
Now the Raja's chief officer was a Tehsildar, and he
had also a Barber, who shaved him every day. And
that evening after the Jogis had run away, the Tehsildar
proposed to the Barber that, when shaving the Raja the
next morning, he should cut the Raja's throat and they
could then divide the kingdom between them, and the
Barber consented. Not content with this, the Tehsildar
i8a FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and the palace chowkidar that same night tried to break
into the Raja's palace and steal his money and jewelry.
They began to cut a hole through the mud wall of the
Raja's room, but it chanced that the Raja was so
puzzled by the paper which the Jogis had put into his
hand, that he kept on reading it over and over again,
and just as the Tehsildar and chowkidar had half cut
their way through the wall, they heard the Raja saying
"See, he throws up the earth, scrapety, scrape I" At
once they concluded that they had been heard and they
crouched down; the Raja went on "Plumpety, plump I
down he has sat." This made them think that they
had been seen and the chowkidar crept to the door to
listen : he heard the Raja saying " Highways and bye-
ways, what a big city 1 The kotwal is going his rounds,
his rounds 1 " Then the chowkidar felt sure that he was
discovered and he ran off with the Tehsildar, without
completing their burglary.
The next morning the Barber went to shave the Raja,
and, while he was sharpening the razor, the Raja again
began to study the mysterious paper, murmuring "Rub
away, rub away, now some more water : Rub away, rub
away 1 I know my boy what you are going to do." The
Barber thought that the Raja referred to his rubbing
water over his face for shaving, and concluded that the
Tehsildar had revealed the plot ; so he threw himself at
the Raja's feet and confessed everything, swearing that
the Tehsildar and not he was to blame. The Raja at
once sent for the chowkidar to take the Tehsildar and
Barber to prison. When the chowkidar came in he found
the Raja repeating " See he throws up the earth, scrapety,
scrape 1 " He at once concluded that the Raja was refer-
ring to the burglary and he fell on his knees and con-
fessed all that had happened. This was news to the
Raja, but he went and saw the place where the wall
had been partly cut through, and then he s^nt all the
THE CHARITABLE RAJA 183
guilty men to prison and despatched messengers to look
for the Jogis who had been the means of saving his life
and property; but the Jogis had been so frightened and
had run away so far, that they were never found,
LIX. THE CHARITABLE RAJA.
There was once a Raja who was very charitable;
he used to give a new cloth and a good meal to every
one who came and begged of him. But one day a
Jogi came and refused to take what was offered to him :
he demanded that the Raja should give him his king-
dom and everything that he had. The Raja thought
it wrong to refuse the request, and went out into the
world with his wife and his two young children, a beggar.
For a long time they wandered about living on charity,
till their clothes were worn to rags, and then they
chanced to hear of a rich merchant who gave a cloth
to any beggar who asked it of him; so they resolved
to go to him for help. When they reached the village
where the merchant lived, the Rani left the Raja with
the two children to cook some dinner and went to the
merchant's house to beg for some clothes ; but when the
mefchant saw her he fell in love with her and shut her
up and would not let her go. To be saved from the
merchant's designs the Rani prayed that she might be
smitten with disease and at once she became very ill.
After waiting in vain for her return the Raja set off
with his two sons to look for her and presently came
to a flooded river. He carried one child across first
but, as he was returning for the other, he was swept
away by the current and the children were left alone.
A Goala woman, going to the river for water, found
them, and as she was childless took them home with
her and brought them up.
Meanwhile the Raja was carried down stream by the
i84 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
flood and was washed ashore, bruised and wounded, a
long way down. At the place where he landed a large
crowd was collected ; for the Raja of the country had
lately died leaving no heir, and the widow had ordered
all the people to assemble in order that two elephants,
belonging to the late Raja, might choose his successor.
The half-drowned Raja joined the crowd and as he sat
looking on, one elephant, passing by all its own people,
came to him and put the golden necklace on his neck and
the other elephant lifted him on to its back and carried
him off and seated him on the Raja's throne ; and as he
sat on the throne all his wounds and bruises were healed.
Years passed and the Raja's two sons grew up, and
as the Goala woman who had adopted them was very
poor, they went out into the world to earn their living.
As it chanced, they took service as sipahis with the
Raja their father, whom of course they did not recognise.
Just after their arrival the Raja arranged a great festival
at which people from all parts assembled; and among
others the merchant went there with the Raja's wife, in
hopes that among the crowd he might find some physician
able to cure the woman. When he arrived, he went to
the Raja and asked that two sipahis might be deputed
to keep watch over the woman he had brought. The
Raja sent his two newly enlisted sipahis, and thus the
sons were set to guard their own mother, and it was
not long before they found out their relationship. The
Rani was delighted to recover her long lost children, but
when she heard that her husband had been washed away
by the river and drowned, she began to weep and wail.
The merchant went to the Raja and complained that
the sipahis who had been sent, had thrown the woman
into great distress and the Raja thereupon sent for all
the parties in order that he might enquire into the
matter. When he heard their story, he at once recognised
that it was his own wife and sons who stood before
A VARIANT— THE WANDERING RAJA 185
him and thus the whole family was happily united.
Then his wife prayed to Thakur that if she were really
the wife he had lost and had been faithful to him, she
might be restored to health ; water was poured over her
and she was at once cured of her disease, and they all
lived happily ever afterwards.
LX. A VARIANT.— THE WANDERING RAJA.
Once there was a Raja who was very prosperous;
but his wife found their life of wealth and ease mo-
notonous, and she continually urged him to travel into
other countries and to see whether other modes of life
were pleasant or distressful; she pestered her husband
so much that at last he gave way. He put his kingdom
in charge of his father's sister and her husband and
set off with his wife and his two sons as an ordinary
traveller.
After travelling some days they got tired of eating
the parched rice which they had brought with them and
thought they would boil some rice for their dinner. So
the Rani went into a bazar^to get cooking pots, and a
light for the fire. She went to the house of a rich
merchant for these, but he was attracted by her beauty
and seized her and shut her up and would not let her
go back, but kept her as his wife. The Raja and his
sons soon got tired of waiting for her; he concluded
that the journey was merely a pretext of his wife's to
escape from him, as she had disappeared the first time
that he let her out of his sight.
So he turned to go home and soon came to a river
which had to be crossed, he left his sons on the bank
and went into the water to see how deep it was and
as he was wading in, a large fish came and swallowed
him. The fish swam away down stream and was caught
in the net of some fishermen. When they saw how big
i86 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
a fish they had caught, they decided to take it to the
Raja of that country. The Raja bought it at a high jwice,
but when it was cut open at the palace the man it had
swallowed was found alive inside; so the Raja of the
country appointed him one of his retainers.
Meanwhile the two boys had been found abandoned on
the bank of the river by a cowherd, who was too poor
to bring them up, so he took them also to the Raja;
and they rejoiced to meet their father and when they
grew up, were also appointed retainers.
They had to travel all over the country on the Raja's
business and it happened that they one day came to the
village where their mother was and they met and recog-
nised her; she told them how she had been seized and
confined and begged them to bring her husband to her.
So the sons fetched their father and the Rani told her
husband how unhappy she was and begged him to get
her released, and he promised to ask the help of his
master. When the Raja of the country heard the story
he took pity on them and went with a body of soldiers
and seized the wicked merchant and ordered him to
give up all his wealth and as the merchant tried to
conceal where some of his money was buried, the Raja
cut him down with his sword. He also laid a heavy
fine on the villagers, because they had not sent word to
him of the capture of the Rani.
Then he took home the Raja who had been swallowed
by the fish and his wife and sons, and entertained them
for some days, and then gave them elephants and horses
and men and all the merchant's property and sent them
to their own country. The uncle and aunt who had
been appointed Regents came out to meet them and
escorted them home.
Two OT three days after the aunt asked the Raja
how he had got his elephants and horses and money,
and he said "They are the profits of my wife's sin;
THE TWO WIVES 187
I will not tell you the whole story for if you heard
it you also might be led astray; my wife induced me
to travel by false pretences. It is not good to follow
the advice of a woman; it is by mere chance that you
see me alive to-day." His wife heard what he said, and
she went out and cut her throat from remorse; and
they went and burned her body.
LXI. THE TWO WIVES. ' "^
There were once a Raja and his Dewan who had
each one son, and the two boys were great friends.
Both had been married in their infancy and when they
grew up and heard that they had wives, they agreed to
go together and visit them. So they set out, and they
arranged that on account of the superior rank of the
Raja's son they would go first and visit his wife; and
they also agreed that, as they were going to a strange
place, they would keep together day and night.
When they reached the house of the Prince's fiather-
in-law they were received with great honour and when
night came they lay down with their beds side by side.
Presently the Prince's wife came to him and began to
rub his arms and legs, until she had soothed him off to
sleep. The Dewan's son pretended also to go fast asleep,
but really he was careful to keep awake, for he thought
it safer to be on the watch in a strange place.
His prudence was rewarded, for after a time he saw
the Prince's wife leave her sleeping husband and go out
of the house.
The Dewan's son followed her and saw her enter the
house of a Gosain who lived on the outskirts of the
village; He went near and listened at the door. He heard
the Gosain ask the young woman why she was so late
in coming, and her answer that she had been; detained
by the visit of her husband. The Gosain reproached
i88 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
her for not having told him that she was married, and
she protested that she had known nothing about it until
her husband appeared. The Gosain said that she must
choose between him and her husband, and she answered
that she would never give him up. "Then" said the
Gosain "if you really mean it, go and bring me your
husband's head." At this the Dewan's son hurried back
and lay down on his bed. Presently he saw the woman
come with a sword and cut oflf her husband's head.
But when she took it to the Gosain, he rose and beat
her with his iron pincers and drove her out, swearing
that he would have nothing more to do with a woman
who was so heartless as to kill her own husband. Then
the woman returned and placed the severed head by
her husband's body and raised a great outcry, that her
husband had been murdered. The people of the house
came and at first they charged the Dewan's son with
the crime and were about to put him to death ; but he
called the Gosain as a witness and the real facts were
proved by his evidence, and the murderess was hanged.
The Dewan's son would not allow the Prince's body
to be burnt but insisted on taking it with him, that it
might be cremated at his own home. So he took it on
his back and carried it off.
He thought that, as he had come so far, it would be
better to visit his own wife before going home. So, when
he reached the village where his wife lived, he hid the
Prince's body in a hollow tree and went to his father-
in-law's house.
That night when they had gone to bed, the Dewan's
son saw that his wife had something on her mind, so
he resolved to watch her.
When she thought that he was asleep, he saw her rise
and go out of the house. He followed her to a shrine
of Mahadeb ; there she smeared the ground with cowdung
and worshipped the god and said " O Siva I I have
SPANLING AND HIS UNCLES 189
worshipped you for many days; now my husband has
come to take me to his house, and you must find
another worshipper." The Mahadeb answered " You have
served me for many days ; call hither your husband ; as
you have worshipped me for so long, I will confer a
boon on you." So she went and called her husband and
as he knew what had happened, he had no hesitation in
going with her to the shrine. There the Siv bade him
ask a boon, and he prayed that the Raja's son might
be restored to life. The Siv bade them bring the body
and cover it with a wet cloth ; and when they had done
so, the body began to breathe and presently the Prince
rose up alive and well. The Dewan's son told him all that
had happened and the next day they went home, taking
with them the wife of the Dewan's son, through whose
virtue and piety the Prince had been restored to life.
LXII. SPANLING AND HIS UNCLES.
There was once a little man named Spanling (Bita)
because he was only a span {Bita) high; and he had a
beard one span and four finger -breadths long. His father
was dead, and he lived alone with his mother and he
was as cunning as anyone in the world. He had one
cow-buffalo and this he always grazed at night, for fear
that the sun might melt it. Once it happened that as
he was following his buffalo, he got buried in its droppings
and he was so small that he could not get out.
However, next morning, some girls, who were gathering
cowdung for fuel, found him and set him free. Spanling
decided to get rid of the buffalo after this ; so he killed
it and flayed it and when the skin was dry, took it away
to sell. Before he found a purchaser night came on, so
he climbed a tree with his hide to be out of danger.
During the night a gang of thieves came to the tree,
and began to divide their booty. While there were
busy over this, Spanling let the hide fall with a clatter-
igo FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
into their midst, and they all ran away in a fright, leaving
all their stolen goods behind.
When day dawned, Spanling climbed down and found
piles of gold waiting for him. He took it home and
sent his mother to borrow a wooden measure from his
uncles to measure it with. When he returned the
measure, one of the gold pieces was left sticking in
a crack. His uncles at once hastened to enquire how
he came to be measuring gold. Spanling told them
that he had sold his bufifalo skin at a town which
he named, for an enormous price and no doubt they
could find the same market, if they chose to kill their
buffaloes. The uncles hurried home and killed all
their buffaloes and took the hides to the city, which
Spanling had named, but they were only laughed at
when they asked more than the price which was paid
every day for hides. The uncles came home very angry
at the way in which they had been tricked by Spanling,
and in revenge they burnt his house down. Finding
himself homeless, Spanling gathered the ashes of his
house into sacks, loaded them on a cart and drove
away. When evening came he camped by the roadside
in company with some other carters and, in the middle
of the night, he quietly changed his sacks of ashes for
some of the sacks in the other carts. When he got
home he found that the sacks which he had stolen were
full of gold coins. He again sent to his uncles for a
measure and when the measure was returned a gold
coin was again left sticking in a crack. The uncles at
once came to enquire how Spanling had got the money.
He told them that he had sold the ashes of his house
for gold and, as their houses were bigger than his, they
would doubtless make their fortunes if they burnt them
down and sold the ashes. The uncles took his advice
but when they tried to sell the ashes they were only
laughed at for their pains.
THE SILENT WIFE 191
LXIII. THE SILENT WIFE.
There was once a madcap of a fellow, whose wife
got on very well with him and did all the house work
very nicely, but she would never speak a single word
to him. As nothing he tried would make her speak,
the madcap at last hit on a plan of taking her on a
long journey. But even when he told his wife that she
must come with him to a far country, she did not utter
a word. When all was ready for a start the madcap
bathed his feet and took a lota of water into the house
and pouring it out, prayed to the spirit of his grand-
father thus " Grandfather, grant that my wife may speak ;
if you do not fail me in this, I will make offerings to
you on my return; grant that we may come back
together happily; teach her to speak to me soon."
Then he set out with his wife and they travelled on
until they entered a dense forest, where there was no
sign of human habitation. As they went 00, the tailor
birds and babblers began to chatter and scream at them.
The madcap got angry at this and called out to the
birds that if they did not stop, he would chase them
and go on chasing them for a day and a night. Then
he sat down and watched them. His wife stood waiting
by his side, and soon she began to wonder what she
would do and where she would go, if her husband really
went in chase of the birds. So at last she spoke to
him and said " Come, get up ; we must make haste out
of this jungle." Directly the words were out of her
mouth, the madcap knelt down and bowing to the ground
said "I thank you. Grandfather". Then he rose and
went on with his wife.
Presently they met a bear; the madcap called out
"You brute of a bear, what do you mean by coming
to meet us like this? I will chase you and go on
192 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
chasing you till to-morrow morning." But his wife
besought him to come along and not leave her. Directly
she spoke, the madcap cried "Bravo" and kneeling
down thanked his grandfather. They went on and
presently a jackal crossed their path ; the madcap cursed
it and vowed that he would chase it all the night.
Again his wife urged him to come on and again the
madcap knelt down and thanked his grandfather; but
his wife did not know why he did so, nor did she
trouble to ask.
Just as they reached the edge of the forest they saw
a leopard and this also the madcap threatened to chase.
"Then go and chase it," said his wife, who now felt
safe. So he went in pursuit of the leopard, but after
going a little way he lost sight of it and went back to
where his wife was. "What has become of all your
boasting?" said she. "You have not chased it till to-
morrow morning." "No," said the madcap "I have
killed it; if you don't believe me, come and see." But
she did not want to go back into the jungle and said
no more about it. As his wife had broken her silence
the madcap saw no use in going further and they turned
homewards ; all the way his wife went on chatting and
singing along with him. When he reached home he
sacrificed a number of goats to his grandfather, and lived
happily with his wife ever after.
LXIV. THE DUMB SHEPHERD.
There was once a very rich and powerful Raja and
in his heart he thought that there was no one so power-
ful in the world as himself; thus he thought but he told
no one of his thought. One day he made up his mind
to see whether others could guess what he was thinking,
so he called together his officers and servants and de-
pendants and bade them tell him what thought was in
THE DUMB SHEPHERD 193
his heart. Many of them made guesses, but not one
gave an answer which satisfied the Raja.
Then the Raja told his dewan that he must without
fail find some one who would guess his thought, and he
gave the dewan exactly one month's time in which to
search. The dewan searched high and low but all in
vain, and as the time drew near he grew more and more
anxious, for he feared that he would fall into disgrace.
But he had a daughter and she consoled him and told
him to cheer up, as she would find a man on the day
fixed to read the Raja's thoughts. The dewan had to
take what comfort he could from this promise, and when
the appointed day arrived, his daughter brought a dumb
shepherd whom they employed and bade her father
take him to the Raja. The dewan thought it very un-
likely that the dumb shepherd would succeed where
others had failed, but he saw no alternative to following
his daughter's advice.
So the dewan presented himself before the Raja with the
dumb shepherd and found a large company assembled to
see what happened. The two stood before the Raja
and the dumb man looked at the Raja. Then the Raja
held up one finger, at this the dumb shepherd held up
two fingers. Then the Raja held up three fingers, but
at this the dumb man made signs of dissent and ran
away as fast as he could. Then the Raja laughed and
seemed very pleased and praised the dewan for having
brought him such a clever man, and gave the dewan a
rich reward.
The dewan was still at a loss to know what had
happened, and begged the Raja to explain What had
passed between him and the shepherd. "When I held
up one finger," said the Raja "I asked him whether I
alone was Raja, and he by holding up two reminded
me that there was God, who was as powerful as I am.
Then I asked him whether there was any third, and he
13
194 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
vehemently denied that there was. Thus he has read
my thoughts, for I have always been thinking that I
alone am powerful, but he has reminded me that there
is God as well, but no third."
Then they all went their ways, and that night the
dewan questioned the dumb shepherd as to how he had
been able to understand the Raja: and the dumb man
explained "I have only three sheep of my own, and
when I appeared before the Raja he held up one finger,
meaning that he wanted me to give him one of my
sheep, and as he is a great Raja I offered to give him
two; but when he held up three fingers to show that
he wanted to take all three from me, I thought that he
was going too far and so I ran away."
By this lucky chance the dewan earned his reward
from the Raja.
LXV. THE GOOD DAUGHTER-IN-LAW. i
There was once a very rich man who had seven
sons and the sons were all married and lived with their
father. The father was a miser : he lived in the poorest
manner in spite of all his wealth and hoarded all his
money. His eldest daughter-in-law managed the house-
hold and she alone of the family did not approve of
the miserly way in which the family affairs were conducted.
One day a Jugi came to the house and asked for
alms. The eldest daughter-in-law happened to be away
at the time, fetching water from the stream. Those of
the family who were at home flatly declined to give
the poor beggar anything and turned him away from
the house. So the Jugi went away, cursing them for
their miserliness. On his way he met the eldest daughter-
in-law coming back with her jar of water and she asked
the Jugi why he seemed so angry. When she heard
how he had been treated, she at once besought him to
THE GOOD DAUGHTER-IN-LAW 195
return to the house and explained that she was the
housekeeper and that that was the reason why none of
the others had ventured to give him alms.
The Jugi returned with her and she gave him a seer
of rice to put in his bag. At first the Jugi refused to
take it, on the ground that she was only giving it for fear
of his curses but she assured him that she never refused
alms to anyone who begged. So the Jugi took the rice
and then asked what boon she would accept in return.
The woman at first said that she was in want of nothing,
but, on the Jugi pressing her, she said that she would
like to be able to Understand the language of birds and
beasts and to see the disembodied souls of men. Then
the Jugi took a feather from his bag and drew it across
her eyes and blew into her eyes and ears and she found
herself possessed of the powers for which she had asked.
But before he left, the Jugi told her that she must never
reveal to any human being the boon he had conferred
on her, for if she did she would die.
Years passed and nothing happened but then it chanced
that a Chamar who lived at the end of the village died,
and as he had been a good and kind man his family
wept bitterly at their loss. The woman saw the spirit
of the Chamar being taken away in a grand chariot
and she also wept for the death of so good a man. Her
family became very suspicious at her showing sorrow
for the death of a stranger of another caste.
A few days later the miserly father-in-law died and
the woman saw three beings dragging him out of the
house by his heels, and she laughed to see him treated
so for his sins. But the family were shocked by her
laughter and concluded that she was a witch and had
killed her father-in-law by her witchcraft; so after the
funeral they held a family council and called on the
woman to explain why she had laughed. She assured
them that if she told she would die, but they insisted
196 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and at last she told them of the boon conferred on her
by the Jugi, and what she had seen, and then she lay
down upon her bed and died.
LXVL THE RAJA'S DREAM.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had no
children. So he and his wife agreed that he should
marry again. His second wife bore him two sons, and
they were very pleased that the Raja should have heirs
and all lived happily together. But after the two sons
had been born, the elder Rani also gave birth to a son.
This caused discord in the family, for the younger Rani
had counted on her sons succeeding to the Raja, but now
she feared that the son of the elder Rani would be preferred.
So she went to the Raja and besought him to send
away the elder Rani and her son. The Raja listened to
her and gave the first wife a separate estate and a
separate house and sent them away.
Time passed and one night the Raja had a dream, the
meaning of which he could not imderstand; he dreamt
that he saw a golden leopard and a golden snake and
a golden monkey dancing together. The Raja could not
rest until he had found out the meaning of the dream,
so he sent for his younger wife and her two sons and
consulted them. They could give no explanation, but the
younger son said that he had a presentiment that his
brother, the son of the elder Rani, could interpret the
dream. So that son was sent for, and when he appeared
before his father and heard the story of the dream, he
said "This is the interpretation: the three golden animals
represent us three brothers, for we are like gold to you.
Thakur has sent this dream in order that we may not
fight hereafter ; we cannot all three succeed to the Raj
and we shall assuredly fight if one is not chosen as the
heir. It is intended that whichever of us can find a
THE RAJA'S DREAM 197
golden leopard, and a golden snake and a golden monkey
and make them dance before the people, he is your
principal son and shall be your heir." The Raja was
pleased with this interpretation and told his three sons
that he would give the Raj to whichever of them could
find the three animals by that day year.
The sons of the younger Rani went away, feeling that
it was useless for them to make any attempt to fulfil
the conditions ; even if tbey got a goldsmith to make the
animals, they would never be able to make them dance.
But the other brother went to his mother and told
her all that had happened, and she bade him be of good
courage and he would find the animals ; if he went to
a Gosain who lived in the jungle, he would be told
what to do.
So the Raja's son set out, and after travelling for some
days he found himself benighted in a dense jungle.
Wandering about, he at last saw a fire burning in the
distance, so he went to it and sat down by it and began
to smoke. Now the Gosain was sleeping near by and
the smell of the smoke awoke him, and he rose and
asked who was there.
"O uncle, it is I."
"Really, is it you my nephew? Where have you
come from so late at night?"
"From home, uncle,"
"What has brought me to your memory now? You
have never paid me a visit before. I am afraid that
something has happened."
" You need not fear that, I have come to you because
my mother tells me that you can help me to find the
golden leopard and the golden snake and the golden
monkey."
At this the Gosain promised to help the Raja's son
to find the animals and then put the cooking-pot on the fire
to boil; and in it he put only three grains of rice, but
198 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
when it was cooked, they found that there was enough
to make a meal of. When they had eaten, the Gosain
said "Nephew, I cannot tell you what you have to do;
but further in the jungle lives my younger brother : go
to him and he will tell you."
So when it was morning the Raja's son set out, and
in two days he reached the second Gosain and told
him of his quest. The Gosain listened to his story and
put the cooking-pot on to boil and in it threw two
grains of rice, and this, when cooked, was sufficient for
a good meal. After they had eaten, the Gosain said
that he could not tell how the animals were to be found,
but that he had a still younger brother who could tell.
So the next morning the Raja's son continued his
journey, and in two or three days he came to the third
Gosain and there he learnt what was to be done. This
Gosain also put the pot on to boil but in the pot he
only put one grain of rice and a bit of a grain, yet
when cooked it was enough for a meal.
In the morning the Gosain told the Raja's son to go
to a blacksmith and have a shield made of twelve
maunds of iron and with its edge so sharp that a leaf
falling on it would be cut in two. So he went to the
blacksmith and had a shield made, and took it to the
Gosain. The Gosain said that they must test it, and he
set it edgewise in the ground under a tree and told the
Raja's son to climb the tree and shake some leaves
down. The Raja's son climbed the tree and shook the
branches, but not a leaf fell. Then the Gosain climbed
up and gave the tree a shake and the leaves fell in
showers and every leaf that touched the edge of the
shield was cut in two. Then the Gosain was satisfied
that the shield was rightly made.
Then the Gosain told the Raja's son, that further on
in the jungle he would find a pair of snakes living in a
bamboo house; and they had a daughter whom they
THE RAJA'S DREAM 199
never allowed to come out of the house; he must fix
the sharp shield in the door of the house and hide
himself in a tree, and when the snakes came out they
would be cut to pieces ; then, when the snakes were dead,
he was to go to their daughter and she would show
him where to find the golden animals. So the Raja's
son set out and about noon he came to the home of
the snakes, and he set the shield in the doorway as the
Gosain had said, and at evening, when the snakes tried
to come out of the house, they were cut to pieces.
When her father and mother were dead, the daughter
came out to see what had happened, and the Raja's son
saw that she was very beautiful. He went to her and
began to talk and it did not take them long to fall in
love with each other. The snake maiden soon forgot
her father and mother, and she and the Raja's son lived
together in the bamboo house many days.
The snake maiden strictly forebade him to go anywhere
to the west or south of the house, but one day he
disobeyed her and wandered away to the west. After
going a short distance he saw golden leopards dancing,
and directly he set eyes on them, he himself was changed
into a golden leopard and began to dance with the
others. The snake maiden soon knew what had happened,
and she followed him and led him back and restored
him to his own shape.
A few days later, the Raja's son went away to the
south and there he found golden snakes dancing on the
bank of a tank and directly he saw them, he too became
a golden snake and joined the dance. Again the snake
maiden fetched him back and restored him to his own
form. But again the Raja's son went out to the south-
west and there he saw golden monkeys dancing under
a banyan tree, and when he saw them he became a
golden monkey; again the snake maiden brought him
back and restored him to human shape.
200 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
After this the Raja's son said that it was time for him
to go back home. The snake maiden asked why be had
come there at all, and then he told her all about the Raja's
dream and said that as he had found the animals he
would now go home.
"Kill me first" said the snake maiden; "you have
killed my parents and I cannot live alone here." " No,
I will not kill you, I will take you with me" answered
the Raja's son, and the snake maiden gladly agreed.
Then the Raja's son asked how he was to take the golden
animals with him, for so far he had only seen where
they were. The snake maiden said that if he faithfuUy
promised never to desert her, nor take another wife, she
would produce the animals for him when the time came.
So he swore never to leave her and they set out for
his home.
When they reached the place where the third Gosain
lived, the Raja's son said that he had promised to visit the
Gosain on his homeward journey and show him the
golden animals ; but he did not know what to do,- as he
had not got the animals with him. Then the snake
maiden tied three knots in his cloth and bade him untie
them when the Gosain asked to see the animals. So
the Raja's son went to see the Gosain, and the Gosain
asked whether he had brought the golden leopard and
snake and monkey.
"I am not sure" answered the other, "but I have
something tied up in my cloth," and he untied the
three knots and found in them a clod of earth, a pot-
sherd and a piece of charcoal. He threw them away
and went back to the snake maiden, and asked why she
had put worthless rubbish in his cloth. "You had no
faith" said she "if you had believed, the animals would
not have turned into the clod and the potsherd and the
charcoal." So they journeyed on, till they came to the
second Gosain, and he also asked to see the golden
THE MONGOOSE BOY 201
animals and this time the Raja's son set his mind hard
to believe, aind, when he untied the kmots, there were a
golden leopard and a golden snake and a golden monkey.
Then they went on and showed the animals to the first
Gosain, and then went to the house where his mother lived.
When the appointed day came, the Raja's son sent
word to his father to have a number of booths and
shelters erected in a spacious plain, and to have a covered
way made from his mother's house to the plain, and
then he would show the dancing animals. So the Raja
gave the necessary orders, and on the day fixed all the
people assembled to see the fun. Then the Raja's son
set the three aniijnals on the ground and his wife remained
hidden in the covered way and caused the animals to
dance. The people stayed watching all day till evening
and then dispersed, That night all the booths and
shelters which had been erected were changed into
houses of gold; and when he saw this, the Raja left
his younger wife and her children and went and lived
with his first wife.
LXVII. THE MONGOOSE BOY.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had two wives.
By his first wife he had six sons, but the second wife
bore only one son and he was born as a mongoose.
When the six sons of the elder wife grew up, they used
to jeer at their mongoose brother and his mother, so
the Raja sent his second wife to live in a separate
house. The Mongoose boy could talk like any man
but he never grew bigger than an ordinary mongoose
and his name was Lelsing,
One day the Raja called all his sons to him and said
that he wished, before he died, to divide his property
among them. But the sons said that they had rather
he did not do so then; they wished to go abroad and
202 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
see the world, and if he would give each of them some
capital to start, with, they would go abroad and trade
and even if they did not make much profit they would
have the advantage of seeing the world.
So the Raja gave his six sons twenty rupees each to
start business with; but when Lelsing also asked for
some money, his brothers jeered at him and declared
that he certainly could not go with them, for he would
only get eaten up by some dog. Lelsing made no
answer at the time but afterwards he went to his father
alone and begged again for some money. At last the
Raja, though he scarcely believed that Lelsing would
really go out trading, gave him ten rupees.
The six brothers made everything ready and one
morning set out on their travelis, without saying anything
to Lelsing. But Lelsing saw them start and followed
after them, and as the brothers were resting in the middle
of the day they looked back and saw Lelsing galloping
along to overtake them. So they all travelled together
for three or four days, till they came to a great jungle and
camped on its outskirts. There they debated how long
they should stay away from home and they decided
that they would trade for six months and then go back.
The next morning they entered the jungle, and as
they travelled through it, the six brothers managed to
give Lelsing the slip, so that when they came out of
the forest they found themselves at Nilam bazar, but
Lelsing after wandering about for some time came out
at Sujan bazar.
The six brothers bought sun-horses at Nilam bazar,
and began to trade. But Lelsing at Sujan bazar looked
about for someone who would engage him as a servant.
No one would employ a mongoose, and Lelsing was in
despair, for he had very little money. At last he began
to enquire whether anyone would sell him a cheap horse,
and learnt that the horse market was at Nilam bazar;
THE MONGOOSE BOY 203
so he went to Nilam bazar and there found his brothers
trading, but he did not make himself known to them.
He tried to buy a horse but they were all too highly
priced for him, so at last he had to be content with
buying a donkey for three rupees and some articles to
trade with.
When the six months expired, the brothers went
home ; and a little after them came Lelsing, leading his
donkey, his brothers laughed at him but the Raja did
not laugh; and Lelsing showed his father and mother
what profits he had made by his trading, which his
brothers declined to do. The Raja was pleased with
Lelsing for this and declared that, in spite of his shape,
he was a man and a Raja. It only made his brothers
more angry with him to hear Lelsing praised.
Two or three years later there was a famine in the land.
Lelsing foresaw it and he dug a large hole in the floor
of his house and buried in it all the grain on which he
could lay his hand. The famine grew severe, but Lelsing
and his mother always had enough to eat from their
private store. But his brothers were starving and their
children cried from want of food. Lelsing had pity on
them and sent his mother with some rice for them to
eat. The Raja and his sons were amazed that Lelsing
should have rice to give away, and they went to his
house to see how much he had; but they found the
house apparently empty, for they did not know of the
store buried in the ground. Puzzled and jealous the
brothers made up their minds to burn down Lelsing's
house. So one night they set fire to it, and it was
burnt to ashes: the store buried in the ground was
however uninjured.
Lelsing put the ashes of his house into sacks and,
loading them on his donkey, set out to sell them. As
he found no buyers, he rested for the night under a
tree by the road side. Presently a band of merchants
204 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
with well loaded pack-bullocks came to the place.
"You must not camp here" called out Lelsing to
them " I have two sacks of gold coin here and you
may take an opportunity to steal them. If you are
honest men, you will go to a distance." So the merchants
camped a little way off, but in the middle of the night
they came and carried off Lelsing's sacks, leaving two
of their own in their place, and hurried on their way.
In the morning Lelsing made haste to carry home the
sacks which had been changed, and when he came to
open them he found them full of rice and rupees. He
sent his mother to borrow a measure from his brothers
with which to measure the rupees ; and when he returned
it, he sent it to them full of rupes.
His brothers came running to know where he had
found so much money. "I got it by selling the ashes
of my house" said Lelsing " and it is a pity that I had
only one house ; if I had had more houses, I should
have had more ashes, and should have got more money
still." On hearing this the brothers at once made up
their mind to burn their own houses, and take the ashes
for sale. But when they did so and took the ashes for
sale from village to village they were only laughed at
for their pains, and in the end had to throw away the
ashes and come back empty handed. They were very
angry at the trick which Lelsing had played on them
and decided to kill him and his mother; but when they
went to the house to do the murder, Lelsing happened
to be away from home and so they were only able to
kill his mother.
When Lelsing came home he found his mother lying
dead. He placed the body on his donkey and carried
it off to burn it on the banks of the Ganges. As he
went, he saw a large herd of pack bullocks coming along
the road. He quickly propped the body of his mother
against a tree which grew by the road and himself
THE MONGOOSE BOY 205
climbed into its branches, and when the bullocks came
up he began to call out "Take care, take care: you
will have my sick mother trampled to death." But the
drivers were too far behind to hear what he said. When
they came up, he climbed down from the tree and
charged them with having allowed their bullocks to kill
his mother. The drivers had no wish to face a charge
of murder ; and in the end, to secure their release, they
made over to Lelsing all their bullocks, with the mer-
chandize which they were carrying.
Lelsing threw his mother's corpse into some bushes,
and drove the laden bullocks home. Naturally his
brothers wanted to know where he had got such wealth
from, and he explained that it was by selling the dead
body of his mother and he was sorry that he had only
one to dispose of. At once his brothers went and killed
all their wives, and took the corpses away to sell ; but
no one would buy and they had to return disappointed.
Another trick that Lelsing played his brothers was
this: he used to mix rupees in the food he gave his
donkey, and these passed out in the droppings; and
Lelsing took care that his brothers should know of it.
They found no rupees in the dung of their horses, and
consulted Lelsing as to the reason why. He told them
that if they gave their horses a blow with an axe
while they ate their grain, they would find rupees in
the dung. The brothers did as they were advised, but
the only result was that tliey killed all their horses.
More and more angry, the brothers resolved to kill
Lelsing by guile. So they went to him and said that
they had found a wife for him, and would take him to
be married. When the procession was ready, Lelsing
got into a palki. His brothers made the doors of the
palki fast and carried him off towards a deep river, into
which they meant to throw him, palki and all.
When they reached tlie rivei-,,they put the palki down
2o6 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and went to look for a suitably deep pool. Lelsing
found that he was outwitted, and began to weep and
wail. Just then a shepherd came by, driving a flock of
sheep and asked what was the matter. Lelsing cried
out that they were going to marry him against his
will, but that anyone who would take his place in the
palki could marry his bride. The shepherd thought
that this would be a great opportunity to get a wife
without spending any money on the marriage, and
readily changed places with Lelsing, who drove away
the flock of sheep. The brothers soon came back and,
picking up the paiki, threw it into the river and went
home, thinking that they had at last got rid of Lelsing.
But four or five days later Lelsing appeared, driving
a large flock of sheep. His brothers asked him, in
amazement where he had come from. "You threw me"
said Lelsing" into a shallow pool of the river where
there were only sheep, but in the deeper parts there
are cattle and buffaloes as well. I can take you to fetch
some of them if you like. You take your palkis to the
bank of the river, — for I cannot carry you all. — and
then shut yourselves inside and I will push you into
the water." So the brothers took their palkis to the
river side and shut themselves in, and each called out
"Let me have the deepest place, brother." Then Lelsing
pushed them in one by one and they were all drowned.
Then he went home rejoicing at the revenge which he
had taken for their ill treatment of him.
LXVIII. THE STOLEN TREASURE.
Once upon a time three jars full of money were
stolen from a Raja's palace. As all search was fruitless
the Raja at last gave notice that, whoever could find
them, should receive one half of the money. The offer
brought all the jans and ojhas in the country to try
THE STOLEN TREASURE 207
their hand, but not one of them could find the treasure.
The fact was that the money had been stolen by
two of the Raja's own servants and it fell to the duty
of these same two men to entertain the ojhas who came
to try and find the money. Thus they were able to keep
watch and see whether any of them got on the right track.
Not far from the Raja's city lived a certain tricky fellow.
From his boyhood he had always been up to strange
pranks, and he had married the daughter of a rich village
headman. At the time that the Raja's money was stolen
his wife was on a visit to her father, and after she had
been some time away, he went to fetch her home.
However, on his way, he stopped to have a flirtation
with a girl he knew in the village and the result was
that he did not get to his father-in-law's house till long
after dark. As he stood outside he heard his wife's
relations talking inside, and from their conversation he
learnt that they had killed a capon for supper, and
that there was enough for each of them to have three
slices of capon and five pieces of the vegetable which
was cooked with it.
Having learnt this he opened the door and went in.
The household was amazed at his arriving so late at
night but he explained that he had dreamt that they
had killed a capon and were having a feast: and that
there was enough for them each to have three slices of
capon and five pieces of vegetable, so he had come to
have a share. At this his father-in-law could do nothing
but have another fowl killed and give him supper; he
was naturally astonished at the Trickster's powers of
dreaming and insisted that he must certainly go and
try his luck at finding the Raja's stolen money.
The Trickster was taken aback at this, but there was
no getting out of it; so the next morning he set out
with his father-in-law to the Raja's palace. When they
arrived they were placed in charge of the two guilty
2o8 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
servants, who offered them refreshments of curds and
parched rice. As he was washing his hands after eating,
the Trickster ejaculated, " Find or fail I have at any
rate had a square meal." Now the two servants were
named Find and Fail and when they heard what the
Trickster said, they thought he was speaking of them,
and had by some magic already fouhd out that they
were the thieves.
This threw them into consternation, and they took the
Trickster aside and begged him not to tell the Raja that
they were the thieves. He asked where they had put
the money, and they told him that they had hidden it
in the sand by the river. Then he promised not to
reveal their guilt, if they would show him where to
find the money when the time came. They gladly
promised and took him to the Raja. The Trickster
pretended to read an incantation over some mustard
seed, and then taking a bamboo went along tapping
the ground with it. He refused to have a crowd with
him, because they would spoil the spell, but Find and
Fail followed behind him and showed him Where to go.
So he soon fduiid the jars of money and took them to
the Raja, who according to his promise gave him half
their contents.
LXIX. DUKHU AND HIS BONGA WIFE.
Once upon a time there was a man named Bhagrit
who had two sons named Lukhu and Dukhu ; and Lukhu
used to work in the fields, while Dukhu herded the
buffaloes. In summer Dukhu used to take his buffaloes
to drink and rest at a pool in the bed of a dry river.
Now in the pool lived b. bonga girl and she fellinlbve
with Dukhu. So one day as he was sitting on the bank
she appeared to him in the guise of a human maiden.
She went up to him and began to talk* and soon they
DUKHU AND HIS BONGA WIFE 209
became great friends and agreed to meet at the same
place every day. As the girl was beautiful Dukhu fell
deeply in love with her and resolved to marry her, not
knowing that she was a bonga. One day the bonga-%\x\
asked Dukhu to come home with her to dinner, as he
had stayed too late to go to his own house; but he
said he was too shy to do so, as her parents knew
nothing about him. The bonga-%v[\ said " Oh no, I
have told my people all about our love, but if you
won't come with me, stay here till I fetch you some
rice; it is too late for you to go home now; by the
time you come back, the buffaloes will have wandered
off for their afternoon grazing." So Dukhu agreed to
wait while she brought the rice, and she got up and
moved away and disappeared behind some bushes, but
a minute later Dukhu saw her come smiling towards
him with a pot of rice on her head ; though how she had
fetched it so quickly he could not make out. She came
to him and put it down and told him to wash his hands
and come and eat his dinner. Dukhu asked her whether
she had had her own dinner and she said that she
would go back and have that later. Then he proposed
that she should eat part of what she had brought;
and she said that she would do so, if he did not want
it all. Dukhu resolved to test her, for it would be
a proof of true love, if she ate what he left over. So
after eating half the rice he said that, he was satisfied
and when she found that Dukhu would eat no more
she took what was left; then he was satisfied that
she really loved him and they began to talk of
getting married, and he told her that there would be
no difficulty about it, as his elder brother Lukhu was
already married.
Then Dukhu asked the bonga to take him to her
house to see her parents, so one day she led him into
the pool and as he went in, the water never came
14
210 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
above his ankles ; and somehow they passed along a
broad road until they came to the bonga girl's house,
and this was full of tigers and leopards and snakes.
At the sight of them Dukhu was too frightened to
speak; the bonga said that she would not let them
touch him and offered him a large coiled-up snake to
sit on; but he would not sit down till she came and
sat by his side. Then the bonga father and mother
asked their daughter whether this was her husband, and
when she said "yes" they came and made obeisance
to him.
After they had had their dinner she took him back
and he knew that she was a bonga; but still he could
not give her up. After this the bonga girl brought
Dukhu his dinner every day on the bank of the river,
and he never went home for his midday-meal at all.
His brother's wife asked him why he did not come home
and he said that he did not get hungry and was content
with some buffalo's milk; but she did not believe him
and resolved to watch and see who brought him his
dinner, but though she went and watched every day she
only saw him sitting alone, and the bonga girl was
invisible to her. But one day she saw him disappear
into the pool, and come out again.
When she told this at home, Dukhu's father, Bhagrit,
got very angry and decided to find out who made
Dukhu disappear into the pool. He resolved to bale
out the water and find out what was at the bottom.
So he sent for men with baling baskets and began to
divide off the water with dams, but out of the water a
voice was heard, singing: —
"Do not dam the water, father,
Do not dam the water, father,
Your daughter-in-law, the Ginduri fish is dying."
At this sound the workmen were frightened and
DUKHU AND HIS BONGA WIFE 211
stopped; but Bhagrit made them go on, saying that
whatever happened should be on his head. And when
the dams were finished, they began to bale out the
water; thereupon a voice sang: —
"Do not bale the water, father,
Do not bale the water, father,
Your daughter-in-law, the Ginduri fish is dying."
But they paid no attention and baled the water dry,
and at the bottom of the pool they found an enormous
fish, for the bonga girl had turned into a fish. And
they went to kill it, but the fish sang: —
"Do not hit me, father,
Do not hit me, father,
Your daughter-in-law, the Ginduri fish is dying."
Nevertheless they killed it and dragged it on to the
bank. Then they began to cut it up, and as they did
so, it sang: —
"Do not cut me, father,
Do not cut me, father,
Your daughter-in-law, the Ginduri fish, is dying."
Nevertheless they cut it up, and Bhagrit divided the
pieces among the workmen, but they were too frightened
to take any and preferred to take the smaller fishes as
their share. So he told Lukhu's wife to take up the
pieces and wash them: and as she did so the song
was heard: —
"Do not wash me, sister.
Do not wash me, sister,
The Ginduri fish is dying."
And she was very frightened, but her father made her
wash them and then they took home the pieces and
lit a fire and ground spices and turmeric and heated
212 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
oil and made ready to cook the fish. Then the fish
sang again: —
"Do not cook me, sister,
Do not cook me, sister,
The Ginduri fish, sister, is dying. '
But she nevertheless put the pieces into the pot to boil,
when lo and behold, out of the pot jumped the pretty
bonga girl. Then Bhagrit said to his neighbours. — " You
see by my persistence I have got a daughter-in-law " —
and she was duly married to Dukhu. At the wedding
the bonga girl said "Listen, Father and all of you: I
tell you and I tell my husband — however much we
quarrel let not my husband strike me on the head, let
him beat me on the body, I shall not mind; but on
the day that he hits me on the head: I shall depart
for good."
After the marriage the family became very prosper-
ous and their crops flourished and every one liked the
bonga girl; but between her and her husband there
were constant quarrels and their friends could not stop
them. One day it happened that Dukhu smacked her
on the head. Then the bonga girl began to cry and
called her father-in-law and mother-in-law and said
"Father, listen, the father of your grandson has turned
me out, you must do your work yourselves to-day ; "
then she took her child on her hip and left the house >
and they ran after her and begged her to return, but
she would not heed ; and they tried to snatch the child
from her but she would not give it up, and went away
and was seen no more.
LXX. THE MONKEY HUSBAND.
One very hot day some children were bathing in a
pool, when a Hanuman monkey snatched up the cloth
THE MONKEY HUSBAND 213
which one of the girls had left on the bank and ran
up a tree with it. When the children came out of the
water and went to take up their clothes, they found
one missing, and looking about, they saw the monkey
in the tree with it. They begged the Hanuman to give
it back, but the monkey only said — "I will not give it
unless its owner consents to marry me." — Then they
began to throw sticks and stones at him but he climbed
to the top of the tree out of the way.
Then they ran and told the parents of the girl whose
cloth had been stolen ; and they called their neighbours
and went with bows and arrows and threatened to shoot
the monkey if he did not give up the cloth, but he still
said that he would not, unless the girl would marry him.
Then they shot all their arrows at him but not one of
them hit him; then the neighbours said. "This child is
fated to belong to the monkey and that is why we cannot
hit him." Then the girl's father and mother began to
cry and sang: —
"Give the girl her cloth.
Her silk cloth, monkey boy,"
and he answered
"If she consents to marry me I will give it:
If she consents I will put it in her hand."
And as he did not listen to the father and mother, her
father's younger brother and his wife sang the same
song, but in vain; and then the girl herself begged
for it, and thereupon the monkey let down one end of
the cloth to her; and when she caught hold of it, he
pulled her up into the tree, and there made her put
on her cloth and ran off with her on his back.
The girl was quite willing to go with him and called out as
she was carried away : " Never mind, father and mother,
I am going away." The Hanuman took her to a cave
in the mountains and they lived on fruit,— mangoes
214 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
or jack or whatever fruit was in season. The monkey
climbed the trees and shook the fruit down ; but if the
girl saw by the marks of teeth that the monkey had
bitten off any fruit, instead of only shaking it down, she
would not eat it, and pretended that she had had enough ;
for she would not eat the leavings of the monkey.
At last the girl got tired of having only fruit to eat ; and
demanded rice. So the monkey took her to a bazar,
and leaving her on the outskirts of the village under a
tree, he went and stole some pots from a potter and
rice and salt and turmeric and pulse and sweetmeats
from other shops, and brought them to the girl. Then
she collected sticks and lit a fire and cooked a meal;
and the monkey liked the cooked food, and asked her
to cook for him every day. So they stayed there
several days. Then the girl asked for more clothes and
the monkey tried to steal them too, but the shopkeepers
were on the watch and drove him away.
The girl soon got tired of sleeping under a tree so
they went back to the cave and the monkey gathered
mangoes and jackfruit and told her to go and sell them
in the market and then she would be able to buy cloth.
But when she had sold the fruit, she stayed in the village
and took service with a well-to-do shopkeeper, and never
returned to the monkey. The monkey watched for her
and searched for her in vain, and returned sorrowfully
to his hill ; but the girl stayed on in the village and
eventually married one of the villagers.
LXXL LAKHAN AND THE WILD BUFFALOlES.
Once upon a time there was the only son of a widow,
who used to tend the sheep and goats of a Raja and
his name was Lakhan. One day he harnessed one of
the goats to a plough and ploughed up a piece of high
land and sowed hemp there. The crop grew finely, but
LAKHAN AND THE WILD BUFFALOES 215
one night a herd of wild buflfaloes came and ate it all
up ; at this Lakhan resolved to pursue the buffaloes and
shoot them.
His mother did all she could to dissuade him but he
made up a bundle of provisions, and set off on his
journey with a stick, and a bow and arrows, and a
flute made of the castor oil plant. He tracked the
buffaloes for some days and one evening he came to
the house of an old witch (hutibudhi) and he went up
to it and asked the witch if he might sleep there. She
answerd "My house is rough and dirty, but you can
choose a corner to sleep in ; I can give you nothing
more, as I have not a morsel of food in the house."
"Then," said he, "I must go to bed hungry" and he
lay down supperless.
In the middle of the night the witch began to gnaw at
Lakhan's bow and he heard her gnawing and called out
"What are you munching? Give me at bit," but she
answered that it was only a little pulse which she had
gleaned from the fields and she had finished it. So
Lakhan said no more; but during the night the witch
bit his bow to pieces and when he saw this in the
morning, he was very unhappy; for it was useless to
find the bison, if he bad nothing to shoot them with.
So he went home and had an iron bow and arrows
made by a blacksmith, and then started off again. As
before he came to the witch's house and arranged to
sleep there ; and in the night the witch tried to bite the
bow to pieces, and Lakhan heard her crunching it and
asked her what she was eating: she said it was only
a little grain which she had gleaned. In the morning
he found the bow all right, but the witch's jaws were
badly swollen. Lakhan laughed at her and asked what
was the matter and she said that she had toothache.
So Lakhan went on his way rejoicing and at last
reached the place where the wild buffaloes rested at
216 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
night; he waited there and while he waited he swept
away all the droppings and made the place clean, and
then climbed up into a tree. At evening great herds
of buffaloes came to the place and they were so many
that Lakhan was afraid to shoot. So he stayed there, and
every day he used to sweep the place clean, while the
buffaloes were away, and at night time hid himself in
the tree.
The buffaloes determined to find out who their bene-
factor was, and they chose an old cow to stay behind
and watch. The next day the old cow pretended that
she was too weak to rise, and was left behind when
the herd went out to graze. Lakhan thought that she
was too old to do him any harm, so, although she was
there, he got down from the tree and cleaned up the
place as usual, and even swept quite close up to the
old cow buffalo. In the evening the other buffaloes
came back and the old cow told them that it was a
human being who gwept their resting place clean; and
when they promised not to hurt him, she pointed out
the tree where Lakhan was. Then the buffaloes told
him to come down and swore not to kill him but to
support him and keep him as their servant. They told
him to make a leaf bowl and they filled this with their
milk, as much as he could drink, and they arranged
that he should stay at the sleeping place and keep it
clean, and when he wanted milk he was to play on his
flute and they would come at the sound.
So every noon he used to blow the flute and the cows
came, running and gave him more milk than he wanted so
that he used even to bathe himself in milk, and this
made his hair grow very long.
One day a parrot belonging to a Raja saw him drying
his long hair in the sun and the parrot went to the Raja
and told him that he had found a husband for the Raja's
daughter, with beautiful long hair ; but that no one could
THE BOY WITH THE STAG 217
go near where he lived because of the wild buffaloes ; how-
ever the parrot undertook to bring him with the help of
a tame crow of the Raja's : so the crow and the parrot
flew off to the jungle, and they decided that the best way
to entice Lakhan away, was to carry off his flute. So when
the cows gave him milk at noon and he put down his
flute, the crow seized it in his beak and flew away to
the top of a tree. When Lakhan missed the flute and
saw the crow with it, he began to throw stones but the
crow flew off with it, keeping just out of range ; the
crow flew from tree to tree and seemed to be always
just about to drop the flute and in this way enticed
Lakhan on, till they came to the Raja's palace and
Lakhan followed the crow right inside and they shut
the door on him and made him marry the princess.
After some time his wife's brothers began to talk rudely
about him saying "I suppose this fellow is some poor
orphan, without any relations" and when Lakhan heard
this he said that if they wanted to see his cattle and
buffaloes they must make a yard for them. So the
Raja gave orders for a large cattle yard to be made,
and when it was ready Lakhan took his flute and put
his wife on the roof of the palace and he himself climbed
a tree and blew on the flute. Then the wild buffaloes
came running at the sound and gored to death every
one they met, and Lakhan and his wife became Raja
and Rani.
LXXIL THE BOY WITH THE STAG.
Once all the men of a village went out to hunt in
the hills and a certain orphan boy wanted to go with
them, and although they told him that there was no
water in the hills and he would die of thirst, he insisted
on starting. The first day they found no water, but
the orphan boy managed to endure it; but the second
2i8 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
day he suffered so much, that he begged the hunters
to take him to water; they told him that there was no
water and they could not take him to any. So he set
off alone in the direction in which he understood there
might be water, but he soon lost his way in the jungle ;
so in despair he climbed a meral tree and picked the
fruit and threw it in all directions and to his joy he
heard one fruit splash as it fell into water ; so he climbed
down and sure enough close to the tree he found a
pool and drank his fill.
And then he saw a fawn stuck fast in the mud at
the edge of the pool, so he fixed an arrow to his
bow and crept towards it, resolved to catch it alive
if he could, but if it ran away, to shoot it. The fawn
did not move and he managed to seize it and pulling
it out of the mud, he rubbed it clean and put his
bow string round its neck and took it home. The
fawn grew up into a stag and he trained it to fight
and one day he matched it to fight with a goat. The
agreement was that the owner of the winner should take
both the animals; in the fight the stag was victorious,
so the boy won the goat. Then he matched his stag
with a ram and a bullock and even with a buffalo, and
the stag was always victorious and in this way he soon
grew rich. Seeing him so rich one of the villagers
gave him his daughter in marriage and took him to
Uve in his house, and so he lived happily ever afterwards.
LXXIIL THE SEVEN BROTHERS AND THE
BONGA GIRL.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers who
lived alj alone in the jungle, far from human habitations.
None of them was married and they lived on the game
they killed. It chanced that a bonga maiden saw the
youngest brother and fell deeply in love with him. So
THE SEVEN BROTHERS AND THE BONGA GIRL 219
one day when all the brothers were away hunting, she
placed in their house seven nicely cooked plates of rice.
When the brothers returned in the evening from the
chase, they were astonished to find the rice waiting for
them; all but the youngest said that it must be some
plot to kill theni and refused to touch the food, but
the youngest wished to eat it. His brothers would not
let him and told him to throw the rice away; so he
took it outside the house, but instead of throwing it
away, he ate up the whole seven plates full, without
letting his brothers know. But when they went to bed
that night, the youngest brother snored loudly, because
he had eaten so much, and thereby his brothers guessed
that he had eaten the rice, and they were very unhappy
for they were sure that he was about to die. However
in the morning he was none the worse; so they went
out hunting as usual but the youngest brother suffered
continually from thirst, the result of overeating, and
this convinced his brothers that he had eaten the rice,
though he denied it.
When they reached home that evening, they again
found seven dishes of rice placed ready for them. And
that day the youngest brother and the youngest but
one ate ; and the day after there was the rice again,
and the three youngest ate it. Then the eldest brother
said: "To-morrow I will stay behind and watch, and
see who it is who brings the rice ; we have no servant,
if I can catch the person who is so kind to us, I will
engage him as a cook for us, and we need have no
more of this mystery. Do you bring back my share
of the game you shoot."
So the next morning the eldest brother stayed behind
and hid himself and watched. But he could not see
the bonga, though she brought the rice as usual; and
when lie told his brothers this, it was decided that the
second brother should stay behind the next day, and
220 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
see if he had better luck; and that day they all ate
the rice, except the eldest brother, who said that he
would never eat it, until he knew who brought it; so
the next day the second brother watched but he also
could not see the bonga.
One by one all the brothers watched in vain, until
only the youngest one was left. Then they said to the
youngest brother: "Now it is your turn and if our friend
does not show himself to you, we will eat no more of his
rice." So the next day the other brothers went off to
hunt and the youngest stayed at home; he did not
trouble to hide himself, but sat in the house making a
bow. At noon he saw the bonga girl coming with the
rice on her head, but he took no notice and pretended
to be looking down at something. Then the bonga came
into the courtyard and put down the rice and looked
about and said : " I saw something like a man here,
where has he got to?" and she looked into the house
and still the youngest brother kept silent ; then she spoke
to him and asked whether he was ill, that he had not
gone hunting. He answered her that he was not ill, but
had been left to watch for the person who brought them
rice every day. Thereupon the bonga went outside and
brought in the rice and putting it down, said: "It is
I who do it. Come, wash your hands and I will give
you your dinner," but he said : " First tell me what
all this means," and she said: "It means that I want
to live with you." He objected. "How can I marry
you when my brothers are not married?" She answered
that if he married her, they would soon find wives for
his brothers. Then she urged him to eat, but he said
that if he ate one plateful, his brothers would question
him, so the bonga girl went and brought an extra dish
and he ate that. And as they talked together, he soon
fell deeply in love with her, and promised to consult
his brothers about her living with them; but he saw a
THE SEVEN BROTHERS AND THE BONGA GIRL 221
difficulty which would arise if she married him, for his
elder brothers would not care even to ask her for water,
and thus she would be really of very little use in the
house; so with some hesitation he proposed that she
should marry the eldest brother and then they could
all talk freely to her; but the girl would not agree to
this and said that there would be no harm at all in their
talking to her, provided that they did not touch her,
and she would not mind giving his elder brothers water.
So they plighted their troth to each other, subject to
the consent of the brothers, and towards evening the
bonga girl left, promising to return on the morrow. When
the brothers returned they discussed the matter and
agreed that the youngest should marry the girl, provided
that she promised to keep house for them. So the next
day the girl came back and stayed with them ; and they
found wives for the other brothers, and got cattle and
buffaloes and broke up land for cultivation and though
the brothers did not altogether give up hunting, they
became rich.
A certain jogi found out where they lived and once
every year he came to ask for alms ; one year he came
just after the bonga girl had borne a child, so as she
was doing no work, it was her sisters-io-law who brought
out food for the jogi. But at this he was displeased,
and said that he would only eat at the hands of the
girl, who had given him food the year before. They
told him that she was in child-bed and could not come
out. Then he said : " Go and tell her that the Jhades
Jogi has come and wants her arm tassel." So she sent
out her a-m tassel to him and he put it in his bag and
got up and went away. Thereupon the bonga girl arose
and left her baby, and followed him, and never came
back. At evening the brothers returned from hunting,
and heard what had happened. They were very distressed
and told their wives to look after the baby while they
222 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
went in pursuit. They followed as hard as they could
and caught up the Jogi on the banks of a river ; then
they tried to shoot him, but their arrows were powerless
against him, and he by magic turned the seven brothers
into stones.
So the Jogi carried off the woman to his home. He
was a Raja in his own country and he had a big garden ;
and an old woman who looked after it used to make
garlands every day and bring them to the Rani, and the
Rani used to pay their weight in silver for them. In the
course of time the child who was left behind grew up
and when he used to play with his fellows at pitch and
toss and there was any dispute about the game his
playmates would say " Fatherless boy, you want to
cheat! " So he asked his aunts whether it was true that
he had no father and they told him that the Jhades jogi
had carried off his mother, and how his father and uncles
had gone in pursuit and had never returned. So the
boy decided to go in search of his mother and he set
offi and first he met some goatherds and he sang to
them : —
"Ho, Ho, goatherds
Have you seen the Jhades Jogi
On this road?"
But they could tell him nothing. And then he met some
shppherd boys, and he sang to them : —
"Ho, Ho, shepherds.
Have you seen the Jhades jogi
On this road?"
But they could tell him nothing. Then he met some
boys tending buffaloes and he sang : —
" Ho, ho, buffalo herds,
Have you seen the Jhades jogi
On this road?"
THE SEVEN BROTHERS AND THE BONGA GIRL 223
But they could tell him nothing. Then he came to a
thorn bush, with a number of rags fluttering on it, and
he sang: —
"Ho, ho, plum bush,
Have you seen the Jhades jogi
On this road?"
And the plum tree said " The Jhades jogi brought your
mother this way, and I did my best to stop them. If
you don't believe me see the rags as a proof." And
he put his hand on the tree and went on. And then
he came to a squirrel which was chattering in a banyan
tree, and he sang: —
"Ho, ho, squirrel.
Have you seen the Jhades jogi
On this road?"
And the squirrel said "I have been calling you since
yesterday. The jogi brought your mother this way, go
on and you will overtake them. And your father and
uncles also came this road." The boy was cheered by
this news and he put his hand on the squirrel's back and
said "You are a fine fellow to give me this clue" and
the marks of his fingers were imprinted on the squirrel
and that is why squirrels have striped backs to the
present day.
Then he went on and came to a river and he
decided to sit and have his lunch there ; he did not
know that his father and uncles had been turned into
stones in that very place, but as he sat and ate, his
eyes were opened and he saw the stones weeping, and
he recognised them, and he dropt a little food on each
that they might eat, and pursued his way, until he came
to the Jhades jogi's kingdom, and he went to the old
woman who kept the Jogi's garden and asked to be
allowed to stay with her and help her to make the
garlands.
224 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
One day when he had made a garland, he tied to
it a ring which had belonged to his mother. So when
the old woman took the garland to the Rani, the Rani
wondered why it weighed so heavy, and when she
examined it she saw her own ring. Then she asked the
old woman who had tied the ring there, and when she
heard that a strange boy had come, she at once ran to
him and recognised her own son.
Then they planned how they could kill the Jhades
jogi and escape I The mother agreed to find out in
what lay the life of the Jogi. So she questioned him
and worried him till he told her that his life lay in a
certain pumpkin vine. Then the boy went and cut
down the pumpkin vine, but the Jogi did not die ; then
the Rani worried and worried the Jogi till he told her
that his life lay in his sword; then the boy stole the
sword and burnt it in a fire of cowdung, but still the
Jogi did not die; then his mother again worried and
plagued the Jogi till at last he told her the truth and
said " In the middle of the sea is a cotton tree, and on
the tree are two Bohmae birds ; if they are killed I
shall die."
So the boy set off to the sea and on the road he met
three old women and one had a stool stuck to her back,
and one had a bundle of thatching grass stuck on her
head, and the third had her foot stuck fast to a rice-
pounder, and they asked him where he was going, and
he told them, "to visit the shrine of the Bohmae bird":
then they asked him to consult the oracle and find out
how they could be freed from the things which were
stuck fast to them, and he promised to do so.
By-and-bye he came to the sea and was puzzled as
to how he was to cross it. As he walked up and down
the shore he saw an alligator rolling about in pain with
a swollen stomach; and when it saw the boy it said"
I am like to die with this pain in my stomach, how can
THE SEVEN BROTHERS AND THE BONGA GIRL 225
I be cured?" and the boy proposed that it should take
him to the cotton tree in the midst of the sea and there
they might learn a remedy from the Bohmae birds. The
alligator agreed, so the boy got on its back and was
taken across the water. Then the boy sat at the foot
of the cotton tree and sang: —
"Come down, Bohmae birds,
I wish to consult the oracle."
But the birds were frightened and flew to the top of the
tree. But as he went on singing, thfey became curious
and came down and asked what was the matter, and
he said "There are three old woman and one has a
stool stuck to her and one a bundle of grass and one
a rice pounder; how are they to be freed?" And they
said "The first old woman never asked visitors to her
house to take a seat; if she does so in future she will
get rid of the stool," — and as they said this they came
nearer — "and the second old woman, if she saw anyone
with straws sticking in their hair never offered to take
them out. If she does so in future she will be freed,''
and as they said this they came nearer still — "and the
third old woman would not allow widows and orphans
to use her rice pounder: if she does so she will be
freed:" and as they said this they came quite near,
and the boy seized them and broke their wings, and
as he did so the Jogi's arms were broken; then he
snapped off their legs, and as he did so the Jogi's legs
were broken; and the birds screamed and the Jogi
howled.
Then the alligator carried the boy back, and by the
time it reached the shore it was cured of its pain. On
his way back the boy told the three old women of what
the birds had said; and when he got to the Jogi's palace
he twisted off the heads of the Bohmae birds and then
the Jogi's head fell to the ground.
IS
226 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Then he started homewards with his mother, carrying
the birds and their heads ; and the Jogi's head came rolling
after them. But he saw a blacksmith's fire burning by
the side of the road and he threw the birds into the
fire and the Jogi's head rolled into the fire and was
burnt, and that was the end of him. When they came
to the river where his father and uncles were turned into
stones, he bathed in the river, and then put a cloth over
the stones and they were restored to human shape; and
they rubbed their eyes and said "We must have slept
a long time" and were astonished when they heard how
the Jogi had turned them into stones. Then they all
went home and lived happily ever after.
' LXXIV. THE TIGER'S FOSTER CHILD.
Once upon k time a Potter woman went to dig earth
for making pots, and while she was working she was
prematurely delivered of a boy. And she considered
whether she should carry the child home, or the basket
of clay, but in the end decided to take the cla;y which
was urgently wanted, while she would doubtless have
plenty more children in the course of time. So she
went away, leaving the baby in the pit. At evening
a tiger came by and heard the child crying and he
took pity on it and carried it away and he and his
wife reared it.
As the child /grew up they used to take him to the
tigers' assembly. He was not at all afraid of the tigers
and understood all they said and one day he heard
them saying that the Pargaha (tribal chief) tiger was a
great man-eater. At this he was very angry and set
off to look for the man-eater, without telling his foster
parents. When the Pargana tiger saw the boy coming
he had just finished cleaning his teeth, and he thought
"This is lucky, here is my breakfast coming;" but just
THE CATERPILLAR BOY 2^7
as he was about to spring on the boy, the boy caught
hold of him and tore him to pieces.
The news of this exploit soon spread, and the tigers
called a meeting to consider the matter, and they told
the foster father that he must take steps to prevent the
boy doing any such thing again. So the tiger and tigress
went home and told the boy that it was time that he
went back to his own people, as he had brought shame
upon them ; the boy objected that men would not receive
him, but they told him to go as an orphan boy and
beg in the villages till he found his mother.
So he went away and when he came to a village
he sang: —
"My mother went to dig earth
And left me in the pit;
The tiger and the tigress of the jungle
Reared me— give me alms."
And thus he went begging from village to village and
one day he came to the village where his father and
mother lived. His mother heard him a long way off and
running to him knew him for her son. Then she brought
water and oil and turmeric and bathed him and anointed
him, and gave him new clothes and fed him on curds
and parched rice. And the villagers collected, and when
they heard the stories of the mother and son, they
believed them and gave a feast in honour of the boy,
and took him into the village.
LXXV. THE CATERPILLAR BOY.
Once there was an old woman who lived on the
grain she could collect from other people's threshing
floors. One day as she swept up a threshing floor she
found a caterpillar among the paddy ; she threw it away
but it came crawling back again; she threw it away
228 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
again, but it said "Do not throw me away, take me
home with you and you will prosper." So she let it
stay and that day she found that she collected a whole
basketful of rice ; at this she was delighted, and put the
caterpillar on the top of her basket and took it home.
There she asked the caterpillar what work it would do,
and it said that it would watch the paddy, when it was
spread out to dry after being boiled, and prevent the
fowls and pigs from eating it.
So the caterpillar used to watch the paddy while the
old woman went out looking for food; and every day
she brought back a full basket of rice, and so she soon
became rich. It got whispered about that the old woman
was so prosperous, because she had a caterpillar boy
in her house.
One day the caterpillar said that he wanted to go and
bathe, so he went to the river and took off his cater-
pillar skin, and bathed, and as he rubbed his head, one
or two hairs came out, and these he wrapped up in a
leaf and set the packet to float down the stream. Lower
down the stream a princess was bathing and when she
saw the packet come floating down, she had it fished
out, and when she opened it she saw the hairs inside
and she measured them and found them to be twelve
fathoms long; then the princess vowed that she would
not eat rice, till she found the man to whom the hairs
belonged. And she went home and shut herself in her
room and refused to eat.
At this her father and mother were much distressed,
and when they heard what had happened the Raja said
"Well she wants a husband, I will find him for her."
And he sent a notice throughout his kingdom saying
that he would give his daughter and half his kingdom
to the man who had hair twelve fathoms long. Everyone
who heard this came with his sons and the princess
was told to look at them and choose whom she Hked;
THE CATERPILLAR BOY 229
but none had hair twelve fathoms long, and she would
take none of them. Then the Raja asked whether
everyone in the kingdom had come, and he was told
that there was a caterpillar boy, who lived with an old
woman, who had not come, so the Raja sent to fetch
him, but he said that he had no arms or legs and could
not go ; so they sent a palki for him and he was brought
in that. And when the palki was set on the ground,
the caterpiller boy rolled out and the princess said that
he should be her husband.
At this her father and mother were much ashamed
and remonstrated with her, but she persisted in her
fancy, so the marriage took place. They sent the
ne'wly married pair to live in a house at the outskirts
of the village and only one maidservant accompanied
the princess. Every night the caterpillar boy used to
take off his skin and go out to dance, and one night
the maidservant saw him and told her mistress. And
they agreed to watch him, so the next night they
pretended to go to sleep, but when the caterpillar boy
went out, they took his skin and burnt it on the fire;
and when he came back, he looked for it, but could
not find it. Then the princess got up and caught him
in her arms, and he retained his human form, and he
was as handsome as a god.
In the morning the caterpillar boy and his wife stayed
inside the house, and the Raja sent some children to
see what had happened, and the children brought back
word that there was a being in the house, but whether
human or divine they could not say. Then the Raja
went and fetched his son-in-law to the palace, but the
caterpillar was not -pleased and said to his wife; "They
treat me very well now that they see that I am a man,
but what did they do before?" However he stayed in
his father-in-law's palace.
Presently the Raja said that his kingdom was too small
230 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
to give half of it to his son-in-law, so he proposed
that they should go and conquer fresh territory, and
carve out a kingdom for the caterpillar boy. So they
went to war and attacked another Raja, but they were
defeated and their army cut to pieces. Then the son-
in-law said that he would fight himself; so he drew his
sword iand brandished it and it flashed like lightning
and dazzled the eyes of the enemy and his shield clanged
on his thigh with a noise like thunder; and he defeated
the other Raja and took his kingdom and carried off
all his wealth.
But the Raja thought that as his son-in-law was so
strong, he would one day kill' him also and take his
kingdom: so he resolved to find a means to kill him.
On their way back from the war they found no water
on the road and were distressed with thirst. One day
they came to a large tank and found it dry. So they
made a sacrifice in the hopes that water would flow.
First they sacrificed goats and sang: —
"Tank, we are giving goats
Trickle out water!
Tank, we are giving goats
Flow, water 1"
But no water came. Then in succession they sacrificed
sheep, and oxen and buffaloes, and horses and elephants,
but all in vain: and after each failure the Raja said
"Son-in-law, it is your turn," and at last his son-in-law
said "Well, let it be me;" and he armed himself and
mounted his horse and went and stood in the middle
of the tank, and he sang: —
"Up to my knees the water, father.
The water, father, has oozed out."
And the Raja answered: —
"Do you, my son, remain standing there."
THE CATERPILLAR BOY 231
And as he sang the water welled out up to his horse's
knee and- then to its belly;. and he still sang and the
water rose to the horse's baek and then to his own
waist, and to his chest, and he still sang, and it reached
his mouth and then he was completely submerged and
the tank was full. Then they all drank their fill and
the Raja said to his men " We have sacrificed this
Saru prince. I will kill any of you whp tells my daughter
what has happened " and they promised not to tell, but
they forgot that there were two dogs with them. And
when they got home each man's wife brought out water
and welcomed him and the princess asked where her
husband, the Saru prince, was, and no one answered;
then she sang: —
"Oh Father, my father; How far away
Is the Saru Prince, the Gindu Raja?"
and the Raja answered
"My daughter, my darling, the Saru Prince, the Gindu Raja
Is very far away, amusing himself with hunting;"
And she sang to them all, but no one told her anything,
and then she sang to the two dogs, who were named
Chaura and Bhaura : —
"Oh Chaura, oh Bhaura,
How far away
Is the Saru Prince, the Gindu Raja?"
and they answered
"Oh sister, oh Ranil
Your father has sacrificed him
In the big tank."
Thereupon she began to cry, and every day she sat
and cried on the bank of the tank.
232 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Now the two daughters of the Snake King and Queen
had received the Saru Prince as he disappeared under
the water, and when they heard the princess crymg
every day they had pity on her; she used to sing:-^
"Oh husband 1 Oli Rajal
My father has sacrificed you
In the big tank.
Oh husband I Oh Raja,
Take me with you too."
So the daughters of the Snake King and Queen took
pity on her and told their frog chowkidar to restore the
Saru Prince to his wife; and the Prince and his wife
went home together. When the Raja and his wife saw
their son-in-law again, they were terrified, but he said
nothing to reproach them. The princess however could
not forgive them for trying to kill her husband and
always looked angrily at them ; then the Raja and the
Rani took counsel together and agreed that they had
done wrong to the prince, and that he must be a magi-
cian; and they thought that their daughter must also
be a magician, as she had recognised the prince when
he was a caterpillar, and She could not even see his long
hair; so they were afraid and thought it best to make
over the kingdom to their son-in-law, and they abdicated
in his favour, and he took the kingdom.
LXXVL THE MONKEY NURSEMAID.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers who
were all married and each had one child and the brothers
arranged to engage a boy to carry the children about;
so they sent for a boy and to see if he was strong
enough, they made a loaf as big as a door and they
told the boy to take it away and eat it; but he was
THE MONKEY NURSEMAID 233
not strong enough to lift it; so they told him that
he could not carry their children. Now a Hanuman
monkey was looking on from the top of a tree, and he
came down and carried off the loaf and ate it. There-
upon the mothers engaged him to carry the children,
and he used to carry the whole seven about on his
back.
One day the children were running about the house
and kept interfering with their mothers' work, and the
mothers scolded the monkey for not keeping them out
of the way. Then the monkey got sulky and carried
off the children to a distant hill and did not bring them
back at evening. So the mothers got very anxious,
but the villagers laughed at them for engaging a
monkey, instead of a human being, to look after the
children.
When the mothers heard that the monkey had taken
the children to the hill, they were still more unhappy,
for in the hiU lived a rakhas (ogre) but it was too
late to go in search of them that night. Meanwhile
the monkey for .fear of the rakhas had carried the
children up to the top of a palm tree and virhen the
rakhas spied them out he tried to climb the tree, but
the monkey drove him away by throwing the palm
fruit at him.
However the monkey was really in a fix, for he was
sure that the Rakhas would return, and he knew that if
he let the children be eaten, their parents would make
him pay for it with his life. So he went off to a
blacksmith and bought sharp knives and tied them on
to the trunk of the palm tree: and when the Rakhas
came back and tried to climb the tree, he was so badly
cut by the knives, that he fell down to the ground with
a thud and lay there groaning. Then the monkey
cautiously descended and the Rakhas begged him to
cure his wounds ; the monkey answered that he would
234 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
cure him if he gave him complete outfits for the children.
The Rakhas said that he would give them directly he
was Cured. So the monkey applied some medicines and
recited the following spells : — '
"Rustling, rustling sesamum,
Slender sesamum:
Tell your grandfather,
Tell him of seven waist strings.
Rustling, rustling sesamum.
Slender sesamum:
Tell your grandfather.
Tell him of seven dhotis."
And in succeeding verses, he mentioned seven coats, seven
pair of shoes, seven hats, seven swords, seven horses,
and seven hogs; and as he repeated the incantation he
blew on the Rakhas, and he was healed.
The Rakhas was to give the things mentioned in
the incantation, biit when seven hogs were mentioned
he objected and wished only to give one, and in the
end the monkey agreed to be content with two ; so
the Rakhas departed and the next day appeared with
seven waist strings, seven dhoties, seven coats, seven
hats, seven pairs of shoes, seven swords, seven horses
and two hogs. Then the monkey rigged the children
out in this apparel and mounted them on the horSes;
and the monkey and the Rakhas mounted on the two
hogs, — the Rakhas having faithfully promised not to
eat the children or their parents, — and they all set
out for the children's home. When the mothers saw
the cavalcade come jingling along, they were frightened
at first ; but when they recognised their children they
were delighted, and they gave the monkey and Rakhas
a good dinner. Then the monkey made over the
children to their parents and gave up his post as nurse,
and left amid the good wishes of all.
THE WIFE WHO COULD NOT KEEP A SECRET 235
LXXVII. THE WIFE WHO COULD NOT KEEP
A SECRET.
Once there was a man of the Goala caste, who looked
after the cattle of a rich farmer. One day- a cow
dropped a calf in the jungle without the Goala knowing,
and at evening the cow came running to join the others,
without the calf. When they got home the cow kept
on lowing and the master asked whether she had had
a calf; the Goala had to confess that the calf had been
left in the jungle; the master scolded him well, so he
took a rope and stick and went out into the night.
But when he got to the jungle he could not hear the
calf, so he decided to wait where he was till the morning ;
he was too frightened of wild animals to stay on the
ground, so he climbed a tree leaving the stick and rope
at the foot of it. Soon a tiger smelt him out and
came to the place. Then the stick and the rope took
council together as to how they could save their master ;
the stick saw that it could not see in the dark and so
was powerless ; so the rope agreed to fight first, and it
whirled itself round in the air with a whistling noise,
and the' tiger hearing the noise and seeing no one, got
frightened, and thought that there was an evil spirit
there ; so it did not dare to come very near and in the
morning it took itself off.
Then the Goala saw the cow come to look for her
calf, so he took up the stick and rope and followed
her. The cow soon found her calf and asked it whether
it had not been very cold and uncomfortable all night;
but the calf said "No mother, I put my foot in these
four pots of rupees and they kept me warm." The
Goala heard this and resolved to see if it were true ;
so he dug up the earth where the calf had been lying
and soon uncovered the rims of four pots full of money.
236 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS •
But the Goala did not care to take the money home
for fear his wife should talk about it; he resolved to
see first whether his wife could keep a secret.
So he went home and told her to cook him some
food quickly ; she asked why, and he said " The Raja
has a tortoise inside him and I am going to look at
him." Then his wife said that she must fetch some
water, and sh:e went off with the water potn On the way
she met several women of the village, who asked her
why she was fetching water so early; and she said,
" Because the Raja has a tortoise inside him and my
husband is going off to see it" In less than an hour
the village was full of the news, and the rumour spread
until it reached the ears of the Raja. The Raja was very
angry and said that he would kill the man who started
the report, unless he could prove it to be true. So he
sent messengers throughout the country to trace back the
rumour to its source.
One messenger found out that it was the Goala who
had started the story and told him that the Raja wanted
to give him a present; so he gladly put on his best
clothes and went off to the Raja's palace. But the
Raja had him bound with ropes, and then questioned
him as to why he had told a false story. The Goala
admitted that his story was false, but explained that
he had only told it to his wife, in order to see whether
she could keep a secret, because he had found four
pots of money. The Raja asked where the money was
and the Goala said that he would show it, but he
wanted to know first how much of it he was to have
for himself. The Raja promised him half; so the Goala
led men to the place and they dug up the money, and
the Goala kept half and became a rich man.
Moral. However friendly you are with a man do not
tell him what is in your heart, and never tell your
SIT AND LAKHAN 237
wife the real truth, for one day she will lose her temper
and let the matter out.
LXXVIII. SIT AND_LAKHAN.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had two
wives and a concubine, but after giving birth to her
second son, the first Rani died, and the name of her
elder boy was Sit and that of the younger was Lakhan.
The two children used to cry for their mother but the
second Rani never comforted them, for she hated them ;
it was the concubine who used to bathe them and care
for them, and their father loved them much. They used
to go to the place where their father sat administering
justice and Sit would sit behind his father and Lakhan
in front. The second Rani hated to see them with
their father and would tell the concubine to drive them
away ; but she refused and said that it was natural for
a father to love his motherless children; so the Rani
kept silent, but anger remained in her heart.
At last the Rani feigned to be ill and kept her bed ;
the Raja sent for doctors and ojhas, and they came and
saw that she could not rise and they wanted to feel her
pulse, but she would not let them touch her; all she
would do was to make the concubine tie a string to
her wrist and let the doctors hold the other end of the
string; so the doctors diagnosed the disease as best
they could in this way and gave her medicines, but
she got no better.
After some days the Rani sent for the Raja and said
" I am dying and you don't care ; these doctors' medi-
cines do me no good ; there is one medicine only which
will cure me." The Raja asked "What is itf I will
get it for you." Then the Rani made him swear by
Kali that he would give her the medicine she wanted,
and he swore blindly. Then the Rani said " If I eat
238 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the livers of Sit and Lakhan I shall get well, and if
not I shall die." At this request the Raja was struck
dumb.
Now the concubine and a sipahi had overheard the
conversation, and when they heard what the Rani said,
they withdrew and the concubine went and told Sit and
Lakhan of what was in store for them, and Sit began
to cry: — but Lakhan said "Do not cry brother, our
father gave us life, and it is for him to take it away if
he will." So the Raja came out from the Rani's room
and when he saw the boys he wept and he went to them
and told them to eat their rice quickly, but they would
not eat ; then he had their best clothes brought for them
and told them to put them on, but they refused. Then
the Raja called for sipahis and the sipahi who had been
with the concubine, and two others, came and the Raja
told them with tears in his voice to take the two boys
away and let him never see them again, and he added
so that the boys should not hear "Bring me their livers."
So the sipahis took away the boys, and as they passed
through the bazar they bought them some sweetmeats.
After walking for a time they came to a jungle; then
Sit said to the sipahis "How far are we to go? Do
here what is in your minds."
But the sipahis went on further; then Sit again told
them to do what they had to do. But the sipahis said
"Do not be frightened, we shall not kill you; we shall
not obey your father; you must go away and never
come back here."
Now two dogs had followed them, attracted by the
smell of the sweetmeats, and the sipahis caught and
killed them and cut out their livers, and they put them
on a plate and took them to the Raja. The Rani was
delighted and had the livers cooked, and ate them and
the next day she rose from her bed.
Meanwhile Sit and Lakhan travelled on, and in a few
SIT AND LAKHAN 239
days they had eaten all their food and were very tired,
and one evening they sat down at the foot of a tree
in the jungle intending to spend the night there. In
that tree a pair of birds had their nest. Every year
they hatched their eggs and reared the young: but
every year when the young were half grown, a snake
came and devoured them. That year also there were
two young in the nest, and on the day that the boys
rested at the foot of the tree the snake had resolved
to eat them. But when it came, the boys heard it
moving in the leaves and killed it.
At evening the old birds returned and the nestlings
said that the boys had saved their lives, and asked the
old birds to give them some of the food that they had
brought. So they threw down two bits of food, and it
was ordained that whoever ate the first piece, should
marry the daughter of a Raja, and whoever ate the
second piece, should spit gold ; and it chanced that Sit
ate the first piece, and Lakhan the second. The next
morning, the boys went on their way, and the Raja of
the country was looking for a husband for his daughter
and he had sent an elephant out with a flower in its
trunk and it was arranged that the princess should
marry the man to whom the elephant gave the flower.
The elephant came upon Sit sitting by the side of the
road, while Lakhan was at a distance; and when the
elephant saw Sit, it went up and gave him the flower
and the attendants mounted him on the elephant and
took him to the Raja and he married the princess.
A few days after the wedding Sit sat outside the
palace with his wife, and did not come in though it
was evening, and the Raja asked him why he was sitting
outside in the dew. Then Sit began to cry and lament
his brother, singing —
"O Brother Lakhan, where have you gone?
"O younger brother, where have you gone?"
240 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Then the Raja heard how he had been separated
from his brother, and he promised to send men in search
of Lakhan, and they found him in the house of a
potter; but the potter refused to give him up until he
had been paid for the days that he had entertained
him ; but really the Potter had become wealthy, because
whenever Lakhan opened his mouth he spat gold, and
he did not wish to lose such a valuable guest. Then
Sit mounted his horse and took five rupees and gave
them to the Potter in payment for his entertainment,
and brought Lakhan home with him. When they
found that Lakhan spat gold they were very glad to
keep him and the Raja gave him his second daughter
in marriage; and Lakhan made the whole family rich.
Meanwhile Sit and Lakhan's father had fallen into
poverty ; his country had been conquered and his army
destroyed and he and his wife wandered about begging ;
when the boys heard this, they sent for the concubine
who had been good to them, and she came and lived
with them, but they did not forgive their father and
step-mother.
Moral. There is no controlling a second wife and
they are hard to get on with. First wives are the best,
they are obedient and agree with the opinions of their
husband.
LXXIX. THE RAJA WHO WENT TO HEAVEN.
Once upon a time there was a Raja, who had many water
reservoirs and tanks, and round the edges he planted trees,
mangoes, pipals, palms and banyans; and the banyan
trees were bigger than any. Every day after bathing
the Raja used to walk about and look at his trees, and
one morning, as he did so, he saw a maiden go up to
a banyan tree and climb it, and the tree was then
carried up to the sky, but when he went in the evening
THE RAJA WHO WENT TO HEAVEN 241
he saw the tree in its place again; the same thing
happened three or four days running. The Raja told no
one, but one morning he climbed the banyan tree before
the maiden appeared, and when she came, he was carried
up to the sky along with the tree. Then he saw the
maiden descend and go and dance with a crowd of
Gupinis (Divine milk maids) and the Raja also got down
and joined in the dance.
He was so absorbed in the dance that he took no
note of time ; so when at last he tore himself away, he
found that the banyan tree had disappeared. There
was nothing to be done, but stay where he was; so
he began to wander about and he soon came to some
men building a palace as hard as they could. He asked
them for whom the palace was being built, and they
named his own name. He asked why it was being built
for him, and they said that Thakur intended to bring
him there, because he was a good ruler, who did not
oppress his subjects and gave alms to the poor and to
widows and orphans.
There was no difference between night and day up
in the sky, but when the Raja came back, he found that
the banyan tree was there, and he climbed up it and was
carried back to earth by it. Then he went home and
told his people that he had been on a visit to a friend.
After that the Raja used to visit the banyan tree every
day, and when he found that it did not wither although it
had been taken up by the roots, he concluded that what
he had seen was true and he began to prepare for death.
So he distributed all his wealth among his friends and
among the poor ; and when his officers remonstrated he
made them no answer. A few days later he died, and
was taken to the palace which he had seen being built.
It is said that what you give away in this world, you
will get back in the next; there you will get good
wages for what you have done in this life.
16
242 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
LXXX. SEVEN-TRICKS AND SINGLE-TRICK.
Seven-Tricks and Single-Trick were great friends,
but some one told Seven-Tricks that Single-Trick was
the cleverer man of the two. Seven-Tricks pondered
over this but felt sure that his very name showed that
he was the cleverer; so one day he went to pay a
visit to Single-Trick, and put the matter to the test.
When Single-Trick saw him coming, he called a pretty
girl and hid her inside the house and told his wife to
put the rice on to boil. Seven-Tricks arrived and was
pressed to stay for the midday meal ; he accepted and
Single-Trick's wife brought them water to wash their hands
and when they sat down, helped them to the rice.
As they ate, Single-Trick pretended to get very angry
and began to abuse his wife "You lazy slattern, why
have you put no salt in the rice ? I will beat you for this,
I will beat you into a girl again." So saying he caught
up a club and gave her a blow with it, and pushed her
into the house and pretended to continue the beating
inside ; and then came out dragging with him the pretty
girl whom he had hidden. When Seven-Tricks saw this
transformation he made up his mind to steal the club,
and try whether he could beat his own wife into a girl
again. So when he went home he secretly took away
the club, and the next day when his wife was giving
him his dinner he pretended to get angry with her for
not putting salt in the rice, and snatching up the club
gave her a good pounding with it, and drove her into
the house and then pulled her forth again; but to his
dismay she did not look a day younger than before.
Seven-Tricks was puzzled but could only opine that he
had not beaten the woman hard enough, so he beat
her till her bones cracked ; but still there was no
result and he had to give up in despair.
SEVENT-RICKS AND SINGLE-TRICK 243
After a time Seven-Tricks paid another visit to Single-
Trick, and Single-Trick invited him to come hunting in
the forest ; before they started Single-Trick told his wife
to go and buy a hare and keep it in the house. The
two friends set off, and after a time 'they put up a hare;
Single-Trick had brought with him his dog, which was
a shocking coward and no good at hunting ; when they
saw the hare Single-Trick loosed the dog calling " After
it, after it, drive it right home." And the coward of
a dog, directly it was free, put its tail between its legs
and ran straight home. " Come along home now ; that
is a splendid sporting dog, it is sure to have taken the
hare home;" so saying Single-Trick set off back, and
when they arrived he asked his wife whether the dog
had brought home a hare. "Yes", said she, "I have
put it in that room" and promptly produced the hare
that she had bought. Seven-Tricks at once resolved to
possess himself of a dog that brought the game home
by itself, and the next night he came and stole it, and
in the morning took it out hunting. He soon started a
hare and loosed the dog after it; the dog ran straight
away in the direction of the house, and Seven-Tricks
followed at his leisure, and asked his wife where the dog
had put the hare. "Hare," said she "there is no hare,
the dog came running back alone." "Perhaps I was
too slow and gave him time to eat the hare," thought
Seven-Tricks; so he took it out again and when he
loosed it after a hare, he ran after it as fast as he could
to see what it did. Everyone laughed to see the
hunter chasing his dog, instead of his game. When he
got to the house of course there was no hare, and so
he gave up trying to hunt.
Another day he paid a visit to Single-Trick and
Single-Trick asked him to come out fishing. Before
they started Single-Trick told his wife to buy some live
codgo fish and keep thero ready in the house. When
244 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGAMAS
they came to a pool, Single-Trick at once let down his
line and soon got a bite from a codgo fish ; as he pulled
it out he threw it, rod and all, behind him in the direction
of his home and said to Seven-Tricks "Come along
home, I ejcpect that all the fish in the pool will have
reached home by now." Directly they got to the house
Single-Trick asked his wife whether the fish had come.
"Yes", said she, "I have put them all in this basket"
and brought out a basket of live codgo fish. Seven-
Tricks at once made up his mind to steal the wonder-
ful fishingrod, so he came back that evening and managed
to abstract it, and next morning went fishing with it.
Directly he had caught a codgo fish, he threw it over
his shoulder and went off" home and asked whether the
fish had arrived, but he only got laughed at for his
folly. Then he was convinced that Single-Trick was
more than a match for him, and he would have nothing
more to do with him.
LXXXL FULJHARI RAJA.
There was once a Raja named Fuljhari and he was
childless; he and his wife made pilgrimages to many
shrines but all in vain, the wished-for son never arrived.
One day a Jugi came to the palace begging and the
Raja asked the holy man to tell him how he could have
a son ; then the Jugi examined the palms of their hands
but having done so remained silent. The Raja urged
him to speak but the Jugi said that he feared that the
reply would be distasteful to the Raja and make him
angry. But the Raja and his wife begged for his advice,
and promised to do him no harm whatever he said.
At last the Jugi explained that they could never have
a child unless they separated, and the Raja went right
away and the Rani lived with another man; with this
he took his departure.
FULJHARI RAJA 245
Then the Raja and his wife consulted together and
the Raja proposed to take the Jugi's advice, as he felt
that he could not leave his kingdom without an heir;
so he said that he would go away to a far country, on
pretence of visiting a distant shrine ; but the Rani feared
that if, on his return, he found that she had borne a
child, he would kill her or at least turn her and the child
out to beg their bread; but the Raja assured her that
he would never treat her in that way and after making
his final arrangements he went off to a far country.
There he stayed some years and in the meanwhile
the Rani had five sons ; at last she wrote to her husband
to come home and directly he reached the palace he
bade the Rani to bring the boys to him, that he might
embrace and acknowledge them ; so they were brought
and he took them one by one in his arms and kissed
them, and he saw that they were all the images of
himself. But when he kissed the youngest child he was
suddenly struck with blindness. Then he rose in wrath
and ordered the child to be taken away and killed;
but the mother had pity on it and persuaded the soldiers
not to kill it but to convey it away to a far country.
The child's name was Lita and he grew up and was
married to the daughter of the Raja of the land and
lived in his father-in-law's house. But Lita was always
tormented by the thought that he had been the cause
of his father's blindness; although he would not tell
anyone of his sorrow, he used to get up when every
one was asleep and spend the night in tears. One night
his wife surprised him weeping and begged him to tell
her what was the matter. She pressed him until he told
her how, immediately his father kissed him, he had gone
blind and how his mother had smuggled him out of the
country and saved his life, but how the recollection of the
harm he had done tormented him and how he longed to
be able to return to his own country and restore his
246 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
father's sight. His wife on hearing this at once began
to comfort him and assured him that she would help
him to obtain a medicine which would restore his
father's sight. In a range of mountains was a Rakhas
who had a daughter who was buried in a heap of
Fuljhari flowers; if Lita went and could persuade the
Rakhas to let him marry his daughter, he could then
get a Fuljhari flower and if that were rubbed on his
father's eyes his sight would be restored.
So Lita set out towards the mountains and sat down
by the road side at their foot. Presently the Rakhas
and his wife came by ; the wife asked him what he was
sitting there for; he said that he was looking out for
some one who would have him to come and live in his
house as a son-in-law. The Rakhas paid no heed to this
and proposed to eat up Lita at once, but his wife begged
him to spare the young man and take him home and
marry him to their daughter, who was very lonely. The
Rakhas gave way and they took Lita to the cavern in
which they lived and there was their daughter buried
under a heap of flowers. They made her get up, and
told her that they had brought a husband for her.
Lita and his bride lived happily together and were
soon deeply in love with each other, and after a time he
told her about his father's bhndness and how he wished
to try to cure it with one of her flowers. She readily
agreed to help him; so the next day she went to her
father and said that she wished to pay a short visit to
her husband's home; the Rakhas consented and she and
Lita took their leave. She told Lita that when the
Rakhas offered him a farewell gift, he should take nothing
but a hair from the Rakhas' head ; this he did and they
tied the flower and the hair up carefully and set off" to
the home, where Lita's first wife was awaiting them.
She told her parents that Lita had come back with one
of his sisters, and that she now wished to go back with
THE CORPSE OF THE RAJAH'S SON 247
them on a visit to their home. Her parents assented
and the three of them set out and one evening reached
the outskirts of the village in which Lita had been born.
They camped under a roadside tree, but in the middle
of the night they took out the Rakhas' hair and said
to it "Make us a golden palace" and at once a golden
palace sprang up. Next morning all the residents of the
village collected to see the wonderful new palace, and
Lita told them to bring their Raja and he would cure
him of his blindness. So they went and fetched the old
blind Raja and directly Lita touched his eyes with the
flower his sight was restored. Then they wept over
each other and told all that had happened. And the
old Raja and his wife came and lived with Lita and his
wives and the other brothers stayed on at their old
home; and they all lived happily ever after.
LXXXn. THE CORPSE OF THE RAJA'S SON.
There was once a blacksmith named Chitru who
had a very pretty wife; and the woman attracted the
attention of the son of the Raja. Chitru suspected that
his wife was unfaithful to him, and one night he pre-
tended to go away from home, but really he lay in wait
and surprised the prince visiting his wife ; then he sprang
but upon him and strangled him.
But when he found himself with the corpse of the
prince on his hands, he began to wonder what he should
do to avoid being convicted of the murder. At last he
took up the corpse and carried it to the house of two
dancing girls who lived in the village, and laid it down
inside. Soon after the dancing girls woke up and saw
the corpse lying in their room; they at once aroused
their parents, and when they found that it was the corpse
of the Prince, they were filled with consternation.
Now Chitru had a reputation for cunning, so they
248 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
decided to send for him quietly and take his advice.
When he came they begged him to save them; he
pretended to be much surprised and puzzled and at
last undertook to get them out of their difficulty, if
they paid him one hundred rupees; they gladly paid
him the money, and then he took up the corpse and
carried it off and laid it down on the verandah of the
house of a mahajan who lived near. Soon after some
one came out of the house and found the corpse; at
once they were all in consternation and sent for the
clever Chitru to help them out of their difficulty.
Chitru refused to Uft a finger unless he were paid
two hundred rupees, and when he had got the money
he took up the corpse and put it in a sitting position
in a little patch of brinjals which a Koeri had planted
by his front door. At dawn the Koeri came out and
saw what he thought was a thief stealing his brinjals,
and promptly threw a stone at the man. The corpse
fell over, and when the Koeri went to see who it was
he found the dead body of the Raja's son. As it was
daylight, he had no opportunity of making away with
the body, so he was arrested and sent for trial. He
was acquitted, because he had acted unwittingly, but
he was too frightened of the Raja to stay any longer
in the village and absconded as soon as he could.
Chitru, who was the real murderer, made his wife
promise to keep silence by threats and was three hun-
dred rupees the better for the business.
LXXXIII. THE SHAM CHILD.
There was once a Raja who had two wives and
each Rani had a maidservant who was the Raja's con-
cubine; but none of them had any children. In the
course of time the ladies began to quarrel and when
they appealed to the Raja, he found that the elder Rani
THE SHAM CHILD 249
was to blame and turned her out of the palace, and
sent her to live in a palm leaf hut on the outskirts of
the town. Her faithful maidservant followed her, and
the two supported themselves by begging. But they
barely got enough to keep body and soul together.
After a few days the maidservant asked permission of
her mistress to play a trick on the Raja, by which they
should at least get sufficient food. The Rani assented
and the maidservant went off to the Raja and told him
that the wife whom he had turned out was five months
with child, and that it was a disgrace that one who was
to be the mother of his heir should have to beg her
bread. On hearing this the Raja somewhat relented
towai-ds the Rani, and he ordered money to be sent
her sufficient to provide her with food, and had a proper
house prepared for her. When the proper time arrived,
the maidservant went to the Raja and told him that a
son had been born ; at this joyful news the Raja became
still more generous and told the maidservant that she
was free to take whatever was wanted for the child.
This suited the maid and her mistress excellently ; so
long as they could keep up the deception they lived
in comfort ; when the child was supposed to have grown
old enough to run about, they asked for the price of
some anklets with bells on them and bought a pair, and
whenever the Raja passed by the house in which the
Rani lived, the maidservant made her mistress rattle the
anklets, and then went outside and told the Raja to
listen to the anklets tinkling as his son ran about the
house. The Raja would tell the maidservant not to let
the boy run about too much, lest he should fall and
hurt himself; then she would hurry inside and tell the
Rani to stop the jingling, and then come and tell the
Raja that the boy was resting in his mother's lap; but
for all this the Raja was never given an opportunity of
seeing his son.
250 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
However as time went on the Raja chose a bride and
arranged for his son's wedding; the bride's friends did
not come to inspect the bridegroom; a day was fixed
right off for the wedding. As this day drew near, the
Rani became more and more frightened, for it seemed
that her deception must at last be discovered, and she
would probably be put to death. But the maidservant
encouraged her and promised to devise a plan ; so when
the day came for them to start for the bride's house
she made a paste of ground mowah flowers and out of
this fashioned an image of a child; and when the pro-
cession started off, with the Raja in a palki, and drum-
mers, and palki-bearers, the maidservant was also carried
in a palki and pretended that she was holding the child.
Off they started and as it was too far to go in one day,
they stopped for the night at a bazar, where there was
the shrine of a saint. At midnight the maidservant arose
and went to the shrine and called to the spirit (bonga)
which dwelt there, and said that he must grant her a
boon, and if not it would be the worse for him; the
spirit asked what she wanted and she showed the paste
image and said that she was going with the procession
to marry her son, and somehow on the way he had been
turned into paste ; if the spirit would not give her another
son, she would spit on him and curse him. The spirit
saw that she meant what she said, and for fear of being
spat upon, he produced a boy from somewhere and gave
him to her. The maidservant was delighted at her suc-
cess and bowed down three times in reverence to the
spirit and took away the boy and put him in her palki.
The next morning they rose and reached the bride's
house and the wedding took place in due form. As
they were returning, the maidservant sent on two men
to warn her mistress of what had happened and to tell
her to get ready a feast. So when they reached home
there was a feast ready and the bride's friends were
THE SONS OF THE KHEROHURI RAJA 251
duly entertained and dismissed. Afterwards the Raja
fell out with his second wife and left the palace where
she lived and came and stayed with the elder Rani,
whom he had formerly turned out.
LXXXIV. THE SONS OF THE KHEROHURI RAJA.
The Kherohuri Raja had five sons, and he made up
his mind that he would only marry them to five sisters.
So he sent out Brahmans and Jugis to search the world
to find a Raja with five unmarried daughters. And at
the same time the Chandmuni Raja had five marriagable
daughters, and he made up his mind that he would
marry them to five brothers ; he did not care what their
rank in life was, but he was determined to find a family
of five brothers to marry his daughters. And he also
told all the Brahmans and Jugis who wandered about
begging, to look out for a family of five unmarried
brothers.
One day it chanced that the emissaries of the
Kherohuri Raja and those of the Chandmuni Raja met
at a river; both parties were resting after taking their
midday meal and as they smoked they fell into con-
versation, and soon found that their meeting was most
fortunate; each party had found the very thing they
wanted, so they all set off to the palace of the
Kherohuri Raja in order that the Chandmuni Raja's
messengers might see the young men.
The Kherohuri Raja ordered them to be hospitably
entertained and food to be set before them ; they however
refused to eat anything till they had seen the five bride-
grooms. The five young men were then introduced and
as they appeared to be sound in wind and limb and in all
respects satisfactory, there was no further obstacle to the
entertainment. The next day the Kherohuri Raja sent
out officials to visit and inspect the daughters of the
252 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Chandmuni Raja, and as their report was satisfactory,
nothing remained but to fix the day for the wedding.
When the time came for the bridegrooms and their
retinue to set off to the country of the Chandmuni Raja,
they and their servants and followers all started, so that
no one was left at home but their mother. After they
had gone a little way the eldest prince stopped them
and said that they could not leave their mother all
alone, what would she do supposing some sudden danger
arose?" The others agreed that this was so, but the
difficulty was to decide who should stay; not one of
the other brothers would consent to do so. So at last the
eldest brother said that he would stay, and he gave them
his shield and sword and told them to perform his mar-
riage for him by putting the vermilion on the bride's
forehead with his sword.
When they reached the home of the Chandmuni Raja
they proceeded at once to perform the vermilion cer-
emony, beginning with the eldest daughter; but when
the sword was produced and she was told that she must
go through the ceremony with the sword, as her bride-
groom had not come, she began to cry and make a
great to-do "Nothing would induce her to consent."
Why was her husband the only one who had not come
in person .'' he must be blind or lame or married ; " this
resistance put all the others into a difficulty, for the
younger sisters could not be married before the elder.
At last after much talking her father and mother
persuaded the eldest daughter to go through the cer-
emony; the women put vermilion on the sword and
with the sword the mark was made on the bride's
forehead; and then the younger sisters were married
and after a grand feast the whole party set out for the
palace of the Kherohuri Raja.
On the way they were benighted in the midst of a
great jungle twelve kos wide, and the palki bearers
THE SONS OF THE KHEROHURI RAJA 253
declined to go any further in the dark, so they had
all to camp where they were. In the middle of the
night, suddenly sixteen hundred Rakhases descended
on them and swallowed up the whole cavalcade,
elephants and horses and palkis and men. In this
danger the eldest princess who had been married to the
sword prayed to Chando saying " O Chando I I have
never yet set eyes on my husband; he is not with me
here. I pray thee carry my palki in safety up into the
sky." And Chando heard her prayer and lifted her
palki up into the air and preserved her, but all those
who were left on the ground were swallowed up by
the Rakhases; when the day dawned not one was to
be seen.
As the princess from mid air gazed on this melancholy
spectacle, a parrot came flying over and she called to
it and begged it to take a letter for her to her husband
in the palace of the Kherohuri Raja. The parrot obeyed
her behest, and when the eldest prince read the letter
and learned what had happened, he made a hasty meal
and saddled his horse and was ready to start ; but as it
was nearly evening he thought it better to wait till the
next day.
Very early the following morning he set out and
when his bride saw him come riding along she prayed
to Chando that if it were really her husband the palki
might descend to the ground; it immediately sank,
and the bride and bridegroom met; then she told him
all that had happened and gave him the shield and
sword that he had sent to represent him at the marri-
age; with these in his hands he waited and when at
night-fall the Rakhases returned, the Prince slew every-
one of them with his sword ; and as he killed them the
Rakhases vomited up the elephants, horses and men
that they had eaten. Then his wife told the prince to
dip a cloth in water and wring it out over the dead and
254 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS ^
as the water fell on them they all became alive again,
elephants, horses and men.
But his brothers far from being grateful to him for
having restored them to life, took counsel together
saying " Now that he has delivered us from this danger,
he will think that he has a claim on us and- will treat
us as his servants; let us cut open his stomach and
then the Rakhas will eat him. So they turned on him,
cut open his stomach, and went their ways. Then the
wounded prince told the palki-bearers to carry his bride
back to her father's house.
When they appeared before the Chandmuni Raja, he
upbraided them for not having brought the prince too,
to try if he could not have been healed. Meanwhile the
prince lay in the jungle groaning for a whole day and
night ; then Chando and his wife heard his cries and came
down and told him to push in his entrails and when he
had done so, they gave him a slap on his stomach and
he became whole again. Then as he was afraid to return
to his home where his brothers were, he went begging
to his father-in-law's house; as he came to it, his wife
said to her sister-in-law that the beggar seemed to be
like her husband, so she went to him and they recognised
each other and he was taken in and well treated
and lived there many years. In the end he was seized
with a desire to go and see his old mother, and, his wife
consenting to go with him, they set off to his father's
home ; when his brothers saw him come, they were filled
with fear and made him Raja over them and they became
his servants and he lived in prosperity for the rest of
his life.
LXXXV. THE DOG BRIDE.
Once upon a time there was a youth who used to
herd buffaloes ; and as he watched his animals graze he
THE DOG BRIDE 255
noticed that exactly at noon every day a she-dog used
to make its way to a ravine, in which there were some
pools of water. This made him curious and he wondered
to whom it belonged and what it did in the ravine; so
he decided to watch, and one day when the dog came
he hid himself and saw that when it got to the water,
it shed its dog skin and out stepped a beautiful maiden
and began to bathe ; and when she had finished bathing
she put on the skin and became a dog again, and went
off to the village ; the herdboy followed her and watched
into what house she entered, and he enquired to whom
the house belonged. Having found out all about it, he
went back to his work.
That year the herdboy's father and mother decided
that it was time for him to marry and began to look
about for a wife for him ; but he announced that he had
made up his mind to have a dog for his wife and he
would never marry a human girl.
Everyone laughed at him for such an extraordinary
idea, but he could not be moved; so at last they con-
cluded that he must really have the soul of a dog in
him, and that it was best to let him have his own way-
So his father and mother asked him whether there was
any particular dog he would like to have for his bride,
and then he gave the name of the man into whose
house he had tracked the dog that he had seen going
to the ravine. The master of the dog laughed at the
idea that anyone should wish to marry her, and gladly
accepted a bride's price for her ; so a day was fixed for
the wedding and the booth built for the ceremony and
the bridegroom's party went to the bride's house and
the marriage took place in due form and the bride was
escorted to her husband's house.
Every night when her husband was asleep, the bride
used to come out of the dog's skin and go out of the
house; and when her husband found out this, he one
256 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
night only pretended to go to sleep and lay watching
her, and when she was about to leave the room he
jumped up and caught hold of her and seizing the dog
skin, threw it into the fire, where it was burnt to ashes,
so his bride remained a woman, but she was of more
than human beanty. This soon became known in the
village and everyone congratulated the herdboy on his
wisdom in marrying a dog.
Now the herdboy had a friend named Jitu and when
Jitu saw what a prize his friend had got, he thought
that he could not do better than marry a dog himself.
His relations made no objection and a bride was selected
and the marriage took place, but when they were put-
ting vermilion on the bride's forehead she began to
growl; but in spite of her growling they dragged her
to the bridegroom's house, and forcibly anointed her
with oil and turmeric; but when the bride's party set
off home, the dog broke loose and ran after them ; then
everyone shouted to Jitu to run after his bride and bring
her back, but she only growled and bit at him, so that
he had at last to give it up. Then everyone laughed at
him so much that he was too ashamed to speak, and
two or three days later he hanged himself.
LXXXVL WEALTH OR WISDOM.
Once upon a time there were a Raja and a rich
merchant, and they each had one son. The two boys
went to the same school and in the course of time be-
came great friends; they were always together out of
school hours; the merchant's son would take his meals
at the Raja's palace or the Raja's son would eat with
his friend at the merchant's house. One day the two
youths began a discussion as to whether wealth or wisdom
were the more powerful : the Raja's son said that wealth
was most important, while the merchant's son declared
WEALTH OR WISDOM 257
for wisdom ; the discussion waxed hot and neither would
yield his opinion. At last the merchant's son declared;
" It is of no use for us to argue like this, let us put it
to the test: let us both go to some far country and
take service with some master for a year, and try whether
wealth or wisdom is the more successful." The Prince
agreed to this plan and they fixed a day for starting
Then they both went home and collected what money
they could lay hands on and, when the time arrived,
started off early one morning. After they had travelled
some distance the Prince began to think of how his
parents must be searching for him, for he had said
nothing about his going away; but the merchant's son
comforted him by saying that he had left word of their
intentions at his home, and his relations would tell the
Raja ; so they continued on their way, and after a time
they came to a certain country where the merchant's son
proposed that they should look for employment. But
now that it had come to the point, the prince did not
like the idea of becoming a servant and he said that he
would live on the money which he had brought with
him, and which would last for a year or two. "You
may do as you like" answered his friend "but for my
part I must look for work." So he went to a village
and found employment as a teacher in a school; his
pupils gave him his food and also some small wages,
so that he had enough to live on, without spending any
of the money he had brought with him.
Meanwhile the R.aja's son hired a house in the village
and began to lead a riotous life ; in a very short time
he had wasted all his money on his evil companions
and was reduced to absolute starvation; for when his
money came to an end, all his so-called friends deserted
him. Thin and wretched, he went to the merchant's son
and asked him either to take him back to his father's
home or to find him work. His friend agreed to find
17
258 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
him some employment, and after a little enquiry heard
of a farmer who wanted a servant to take a bullock
out to graze and to fill a trough with water once a day.
The prince thought that he could easily manage that
amount of work, so he went to the farmer and engaged
himself as his servant.
The terms of service were these: — If the prince
threw up his work one of his little fingers was to be cut
off, but if the farmer dismissed him while he was working
well then the farmer was to lose a little finger; and if
the prince grazed the bullock and filled the trough
with water regularly, he was to get as much cooked
rice as would cover a plantain leaf, but if he did not
do the work he was to get only what would go on a
tamarind leaf. The prince readily agreed to these terms,
for he thought that the work would not take him more
than an hour or two. But unhappily for him, things did
not turn out as he expected. On the first morning he
took the bullock out to graze, but the animal would
not eat; whenever it saw any other cattle passing, it
would gallop off to join them, and when the prince
had run after it and brought it back, nothing would
make it graze quietly; it kept running away in one
direction or another with the prince in pursuit. So at
last he had to bring it home and shut it up in the
cow-shed and even that he found difficult.
Then they set him to filling the trough, and he found
that he could not do that either, for the trough had a
hole in the bottom and had been set over the mouth of
an old well ; and as fast as the prince poured the water
in, it ran away, but he was too stupid to see what was
the matter and went on pouring till he was quite tired
out; so as he had not completed the tasks set him, he
only got a tamarind leaf full of rice for his supper;
this went on every day and the prince began to starve,
but he was afraid to run away and tell his troubles to
WEALTH OR WISDOM 259
the merchant's son, lest he should have his little finger
cut off.
But the merchant's son had not forgotten his friend
and began to wonder why the Prince kept away from
him. So one day he went to pay him a visit and was
horrified to find him looking so ill and starved; when
he heard how the prince was only getting a tamarind
leaf full of rice every day, because he could not perform
the task set him, he offered to change places with the
Prince and sent him off to teach in the school while he
himself stayed with the farmer. The next morning the
merchant's son took the bullock out to graze and he
also found that the animal would not graze quietly but
spent its time in chasing the other cattle, so at noon
he brought it home and set to work to fill the trough;
he soon found the hole in the bottom through which
the water escaped and stopped it up with a lump of
clay and then he easily filled the trough to the brim.
Then in the afternoon he took the bullock out again
to graze and when he brought it back at sunset he was
given a plantain leaf full of rice ; this meant more food than
he could possibly eat in a day.
He was determined that the bullock should not give
him any more trouble, so the next morning when he
took it out to graze, he took with him a thick rope and
tethered the animal to a tree; this saved him all the
trouble of running after it, but it was clear that it
would not get enough to eat in that way, so he made
up his mind to get rid of it altogether, and when he
took it out in the afternoon, he took with him a small
axe and drove the bullock to a place where a herd of
cattle were grazing and then knocked it on the head
with the axe and threw the body into a ravine near
by. Then he hid the axe and ran off to his master
and told him that the bullock had started fighting with
another animal in the herd and had been pushed over
26o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the edge of the ravine and killed by the fall. The
farmer went out to see for himself and when he found
the dead body lying in the ravine he could not but
believe the story, and had no fault to find with his
cunning servant.
A few days later, as the rice crop was ripe, the farmer
told the merchant's son to go to the fields to reap the
rice. "How shall I reap it?" asked he. " With a sickle,"
replied the farmer. " Then it will be the the sickle and
not I, that reaps it." "As you like," said the farmer,'
"you go along with the sickle, no doubt it knows aU
about it;" so they got him a sickle and he went off to
the fields. When he got there, he noticed how bright
the sickle looked, and when he touched it, he found it
quite hot from being carried in the sun. " Dear, dear,"
said he, "I cannot let this sickle reap the rice: it is
so hot that it must have very bad fever; I will let it
rest in the shade until it gets better," so he laid it
down in a shady spot and began to stroll about. Presr
ently up came the farmer, and was very angry to find
no work going on. " Did I send you out to stroll about,
or to start cutting the rice.?" roared he. "To cut the
rice," answered the merchant's son, " but the sickle has
fallen ill with high fever and is resting in the shade;
come and feel how hot it is." "You are nothing but
an idiot," answered the farmer. "You are no good
here; go back home and start a fire in the big house
and boil some water by the time I get back." The
merchant's son was only on the lookout for an excuse
to annoy the farmer and the words used by the farmer
were ambiguous; so he went straight back to the farm
and set the biggest house on fire. The farmer saw the
conflagration and came rushing home and asked the
merchant's son what on earth he meant by doing such
mischief. "I am only doing exactly what you told
me; nothing would induce me to disobey any order of
WEALTH OR WISDOM 261
yours, my worthy master." The farmer had nothing
more to say ; his words would bear the construction put
upon them by the merchant's son, and he was afraid
to dismiss him lest he should have to lose his little
finger; so he made up his mind to get rid of this in-
convenient servant in another way, and the next day
he called him and told him that he must send word to
his father-in-law of the unfortunate burning of the house,
and the merchant's son must carry the letter.
The latter accordingly set off with the letter, but on
the road he thought that it would be just as well to see
what the letter was really about; so he opened it and
found that it contained a request from the farmer to his
father-in-law to kill the bearer of the letter immediately
on his arrival. The merchant's son at once tore this up
and wrote another letter in the farmer's name : saying
that the bearer of the letter was a most excellent servant
and he wished him to marry into the family; but that
as he himself had no daughters he hoped that his father-
in-law would give him one of his daughters to wife.
Armed with this he proceeded on his journey. The
father-in-law was rather surprised at the contents of the
letter and asked the merchant's son if he knew what it
was about ; he protested complete ignorance : the farmer
had told him nothing, and as he was only a poor cow-
herd, of course he could not read. This set suspicion
at rest; the wedding was at once arranged and duly
took place, and the merchant's son settled down to live
with his wife's family.
After a time the farmer got news of what had
happened, and when he saw how the merchant's son
had always been sharp enough to get the better of
him, he began to fear that in the end he would be
made to cut off his finger ; so he sought safety in flight.
He ran away from his house and home and was never
heard of more.
262 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
When news of this came to the ears of the merchant's
son, he set out to visit his old friend the Prince and
found him still teaching in the little village school.
"What do you think now," he asked him, "is wisdom
or money the better. By my cleverness, I got the
better of that farmer; he had to give me more rice
than I could eat. I killed his bullock, I set fire to his
house, and I got a wife without expending a pice on
my marriage ; while you — you have spent all the money
you brought with you from home, and have met with
nothing but starvation and trouble ; what good has your
money done you ?" The Prince had not a word to answer.
Two or three days later the Prince proposed that they
should go back to their parents; his friend agreed but
said that he must first inform his wife's relations, so
they went back to the village where the merchant's son
had married, and while they were staying there the
Prince caught sight of a Raja's daughter and fell violently
in love with her.
Learning of the Prince's state of mind the merchant's
son undertook to arrange the match; so he sent his
wife to the Raja's daughter with orders to talk of
nothing but the virtues and graces of the Prince who
was staying at their house. Her words had their due
effect and the Raja's daughter became so well disposed
towards the Prince, that when one day she met him,
she also fell violently in love with him and felt that
she could not be happy unless she became his wife.
So the wedding duly took place, and then the Prince
and the merchant's son with their respective wives
returned to their fathers' houses.
i LXXXVIL THE GOALA AND THE COW.
Once upon a time a young man of the Goala caste
was going to his wedding; he was riding along in a
THE GOALA AND THE COW 263
palki, with all his friends, to the bride's house and as he
was passing by a pool of water he heard a voice saying,
" Stop you happy bridegroom ; you are happy, going to
fetch your bride ; spare a thought for my misfortune
and stay and pull me out of this quagmire." Looking
out he saw a cow stuck fast in the mud at the edge
of the pool, but he had no pity for it and harshly
refused to go to its help, for fear lest he should make
his clothes muddy.
Then the cow cursed the Goala, saying, "Because
you have refused to help me in my extremity, this
curse shall light on you, directly you touch your bride
you shall turn into a donkey." At these words the
Goala was filled with fear and telling the bearers to
put down the palki he alighted and ran and pulled
the cow out of the mud; this done, he begged her
to withdraw the curse, but the cow declared that this
was impossible, what she had said was bound to come
to pass. At these words the Goala began to lament
and threw himself at the feet of the cow, beseeching
her; at length the cow relented, and promised that
though the curse could not be withdrawn it should be
mitigated and it would be possible for his wife to restore
him to human shape. So the Goala had to take what
comfort he could from this and returning to the palki
he told his friends what had passed. Much downcast
the procession continued its way, wondering what would
be the upshot of this adventure.
Arrived at the bride's house, they proceeded to cele-
brate the wedding; but as the Goala touched the bride
with his finger to apply the vermilion mark to her
forehead, he suddenly became a donkey. The company
were filled with dismay and the bride's parents declared
that they would never let their daughter go away with
such a husband, but the bride herself spoke up and
said that as Thakur for some reason had given her such
264 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
a husband she would cleave to him, and nothing that
her relations said could shake her purpose; so when
the bridal party set out homewards, she went with them
to her husband's house. But there everyone laughed
at her so much for having married a donkey that she
made up her mind to run away to another country; so
one day she packed up some provisions for the journey
and set out, driving the donkey before her.
She journeyed on and on till one day she happened
to come to a tank with a large well near it ; she turned
the donkey loose to graze on the banks of the tank
and sat down by the well to eat some of the food
which she had with her. In the fields below the tank
were some twenty ploughmen in the service of the Raja
of that country, driving their ploughs ; and when it got
past noon these men began to grumble, because no one
had brought them their dinner ; as it got later and later
they became more and more violent, and vowed that
when anyone did come they would give him a good
beating for his laziness. At last one of the maid-servants
of the Raja was seen coming along, carrying their food
in a basket on her head and with her child running by
her side. The sight pacified the ploughmen and the maid-
servant hastened to set down the basket near them and
then went off to the well to draw some water for them.
Just as she was ready to let down the water-pot, a
wedding procession passed along the road with drums
and music, making a fine show. The maid could not
keep her eyes off this, but at the same time did not
wish to keep the ploughmen waiting any longer; so,
with her eyes on the procession, she tied the well-rope,
as she thought round the neck of the water-pot, but
really, without knowing it, she tied the rope round the
neck of her own little child and proceeded to lower
him into the well. When she pulled up the rope she
found that she had strangled her own child.
THE GOALA AND THE COW 265
She was of course much distressed at this, but she
was even more afraid of what might be done to her and
at once hit on a device to save herself from the charge
of murder. Taking the dead child in her arms she ran
to the ploughmen and scattered all the food she had
brought about the ground; then with the child still in
her arms, she ran to the Raja and complained to him
that his ploughmen had assaulted her, because she was
late in taking them their dinner, had knocked the basket
of food all about the ground and had beaten her child
to death ; she added that a strange woman was grazing
a donkey near the place and must have seen all that
passed.
The Raja at once sent a Sipahi to fetch the plough-
men and when they came before him he asked them
what had happened, and bade them swear before Sing
bonga whether they were guilty of the murder. The
ploughmen solemnly swore to speak the truth, and
then told the Raja exactly what had happened, how the
woman had killed her child by mistake and then falsely
charged them with the murder. Then the Raja asked
them whether they had any witnesses, and they said
that there was no one of their own village present at
the time, but that a strange woman was grazing an
ass on the banks of the tank, who must have seen all
that happened. Then the Raja sent two sipahis to fetch
the woman, telling them to treat her well and bring her
along gently. So the sipahis went to the woman and
told her that the Raja wanted her on very important
business; she made no demur and went to fetch her
donkey. The sipahis advised her to leave it behind to
graze, but she said that wherever she went the donkey
must go and drove it along with her.
When she appeared before the Raja he explained to
her what had happened, and how the maid-servant told
one story about the death of the child and the plough-
266 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
men another, and he charged her to speak the truth as
to what she had seen. The Goala's bride answered that
she was ready to take an oath and to swear by her
donkey: if she spoke the truth the donkey would turn
into a man, and if she lied it would retain its shape.
"If you take that oath," said the Raja, "the case shall
be decided accordingly." Then the Goala's wife began
to tell all that she had seen and how the ploughmen
were angry because their dinner was late, and how the
maid-servant had gone to the well to draw water and
had strangled her child by mistake and had then knocked
over the basket and charged the ploughmen with the
murder. "If I have lied may Chando punish me and if
I have spoken the truth may this ass become a man ; "
so saying she laid her hand on the back of the animal
and it at once resumed its human shape.
This was sufficient to convince the Raja, who turned
to the maid-servant and reproached her with trying to
ruin the ploughmen by her false charge. She had no
answer to make but took up the dead body of the child
and went out without a word.
Thus the Goala was restored to his original shape,
but he and his faithful wife did not return to their own
relations ; they took service with a farmer of that country
and after a time they saved money and took some land
and lived prosperously and well. From that time men
of the Goala caste have always been very careful to
treat cattle well.
[J LXXXVIII. THE TELLTALE WIFE.
Once upon a time a man was setting out in his best
clothes to attend a village meeting. As he was passing
at the back of the house his maid-servant happened to
throw a basket of cow-dung on the manure heap and
some of it accidentally splashed his clothes. He thought
THE TELLTALE WIFE 267
that he would be laughed at if he went to the meeting
in dirty clothes so he went back to change them ; and
he put the dirty cloth he took ofif in an earthen pot
and covered the mouth with leaves and hung it to the
roof of the room in which he and his wife slept.
Two or three days later his wife began to question
him as to what was in the pot hanging from the roof-
At first he refused to tell her; but every time she set
eyes on it she renewed her questioning; for a time he
refused to gratify her curiosity, saying that no woman
could keep a secret, but she protested that she would
tell no one ; her husband's secrets were her own ; at last
he pretended that his patience was worn out and having
made her promise never to tell a soul, he said " I have
killed a man, and to prevent the murder being traced
I cut off his head and hid it in that pot; mind you do
not say a word or my life will be forfeit."
For a time nothing more was said, but one day hus-
band and wife had a quarrel; high words and blows
passed between them and at last the woman ran out of
the house, crying: "You have struck me, I shall let
it be known that you are a murderer." She went to
the village headman and told him what was hidden in
the pot ; the villagers assembled and bound the supposed
murderer with ropes and took him to the police. The
police officer came and took down the pot and found
in it nothing but a stained cloth. So he fined the
headman for troubling him with false information and
went away. Then the man addressed his fellow-villagers
in these words "Listen to me: never tell a secret to a
woman and be careful in your conversation with them ;
they are sure to let out a secret and one day will turn
your accusers."
From that time we have learnt the lesson that
anything which you tell to a woman will become
known.
268 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
LXXXIX. THE BRIDEGROOM WHO SPOKE
IN RIDDLES.
Once upon a time there were two brothers ; the elder
was named Bhagrai and was married, but the younger,
named Kora, was still a bachelor. One day Bhagrai's wife
asked her husband when he intended to look out for a
wife for Kora, for people would think it very mean of
them if they did not provide for his marriage. But to
his wife's astonishment Bhagrai flatly refused to have
anything to do with the matter. He said that Kora
must find a wife for himself. His wife protested that
that was impossible as Kora had no money of his own,
but Bhagrai would not listen to her and refused even
to give Kora his share in the family property.
Bhagrai's cruel conduct was very distressing to his wife;
and one day as she was sitting picking the lice out of
Kora's head, she began to cry and Kora felt her tears
dropping on to his back ; he turned round and asked his
sister-in-law why she was crying. She said that she could
not tell him, as it would only make him unhappy, but
he would not be put off and said that she had no right
to have any secrets from him and at last she told him
that Bhagrai had said that he must arrange his own
marriage without any help from them. At this cruel
news Kora began to cry too and falling on his sister-
in-law's neck he wept bitterly. Then he went and fetched
his clothes and bow and arrows and flute and what
other Uttle property he had, and told his sister-in-law
that he must go out into the world and seek his fortune,
for he would never get a wife by staying at home. So
she tied up some dried rice for him to eat by the way
and let him go.
Kora set out and had not travelled far, before he fell
in with an old man who was travelling in the same
THE BRIDEGROOM WHO SPOKE IN RIDDLES 269
direction as himself and they agreed to continue their
way together. After walking some miles, Kora said " I
have a proposal to make : let us take it in turns to carry
each other: then we shall neither of us get tired and
shall do the journey comfortably." The old man refused
to have anything to do with such an extraordinary
arrangement: so on they went and by and bye came
to a tank which seemed a good place to rest and eat
some food by. The old man sat down at the steps
leading down to the water, but Kora went and sat on the
bank where it was covered with rough grass. Presently
he called out " Friend, I do not like the look of this
tank: to whom does it belong?" The old man told
him the name of the owner, "Then why has he put
no post in the middle of it?" This question amazed
his companion for there was the usual post sticking up
in the middle of the tank in front of them : he began
to think that he had fallen in with a lunatic: however
he said nothing and they went on together: and pres-
ently they passed a large herd of cow-buffaloes : looking
at them Kora said "Whose are these: why have they
no horns?" "But they have got horns: what on earth
do you mean by saying that they have not?" replied
his companion, Kora however persisted "No, there is
not a horn among them." The old man began to lose
his temper but they went on and presently passed by
a herd of cows, most of them with bells tied round
their necks. No sooner did Kora catch sight of them
than he began again "Whose can these cows be ? Why
have they not got bells on?" "Look at the bells," said
the old man "cannot you use your eyes?" "No," said
Kora, "I cannot see a bell among them." The old
man did not think it worth while to argue with him and
at evening they reached the village where he lived : and
Kora asked to be allowed to stay with him for the night.
So they went to his house and sat down on a string
270 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL FARGANAS
bed in the cow-shed while the women folk brought
them out water to wash their feet. After sitting awhile,
Kora suddenly said " Father, why did you not put up
a king post when you were making this cow-shed?"
Now at that very moment he was leaning against the
king post and the old man was too puzzled and angry
at his idiotic question to say anything: so he got up
and went into the house to tell his wife to put some
extra rice into the pot for their visitor. His wife and
daughter at once began asking him who their guest
was: he said that he knew nothing about him except
that he was an absolute idiot. " What is the matter
with him," asked the daughter: "he looks quite sen-
sible " : then her father began to tell her all the extra-
ordinary things that Kora had said: how he had pro-
posed that they should carry each other in turn : and
had declared that there was no post in the middle
of the tank: and that the buffaloes had no horns and
the cows no bells: and that there was no king post to
the cow house. His daughter listened attentively and
then said " I think it is you, father, who have been stupid
and not our guest: I understand quite well what he
meant. I suppose that when he proposed that you
should carry each other, you had not been doing much
talking as you went along?" "That is so," said her
father, "we had not spoken for a long time:" "Then
all he meant was that you should chat as you went
along and so make the way seem shorter: and as to
the tank, were there any trees on its banks?" "No,
they were quite bare." "Then that is what he meant
when he talked about the post : he meant that the tank
should have had trees planted round it: and as to the
buffaloes and cows, there was doubtless no bull with
either herd." "I certainly did not notice one," said her
father. "Then that is what he was talking about: I
think that it was very stupid of you not to understand
THE LAZY MAN 271
him." "Then what does he mean by the king post
in the cow house" asked the old man. "He meant
that there was no cross beam from wall to wall,"
"Then you don't think him a fool at all?" "No, he
seems to me very sensible." " Then perhaps you would
like to have him for your husband?" "That is for you
and my mother to decide-"
So the old man went off to his wife and asked her
what she thought about the match and they both agreed
that it would be very suitable: the girl understood
Kora's riddles so well that they seemed made for each
other. So the next morning when Kora proposed to
start off on his journey again, the old man asked
whether he would care to stay with them and marry
his daughter. Kora was delighted to find a wife so
soon, and readily agreed to work for five years in his
father-in-law's house to win his bride: so a day was
fixed for the betrothal ceremony, and thus Kora suc-
ceeded in arranging his own marriage.
?:C. THE LAZY MAN.
Once upon a time three brothers lived together : the
youngest of them was named Kora and he was the
laziest man alive : he was never willing to do any work
but at meal times he was always first on the spot.
His laziness began to drag the family down in the world,
for they could not afford to feed a man who did no
work. His two elder brothers were always scolding him
but he would not mend his ways : however the scolding
annoyed him and one day he ran away from home.
He had become so poor that he had nothing on but
a loin cloth : it was the middle of winter and when the
evening drew on he began to shiver with cold: so he
was very glad when he came to a village to see a group
of herdboys sitting round a fire in the village street,
272 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
roasting field rats. He went up to them and sat down
by the fire to warm himself. The herd boys gave him
some of the rats to eat and when they had finished
their feast went off to their homes to sleep. It was
nice and warm by the fire and Kora was too lazy to
go round the village looking for some one who would
take him in for the night: so he made up his mind to
go to sleep by the fire. He curled himself up beside
it and was about to take off his waist cloth to spread
over himself as a sheet when he found a bit of thread
which he had tied up in one of the corners of the
cloth. -'Whyl" thought he "cloth is made of thread:
so this thread must be cloth 1 I will use it as a sheet."
So he tied one end of the thread round his big toe
and wound the other end round his ears and stretching
himself out at full length soon fell asleep.
During the night the fire died down and a village
dog which was on the prowl came and coiled itself up
on the warm ashes and also went to sleep alongside Kora.
Now the headman of that village was a well-to-do
man with much land under cultivation and a number
of servants, and as it was the time when the paddy was
being threshed he got up very early in the morning to
start the work betimes. As he walked up the village
street he came on the man and dog lying fast asleep
side by side. He roused up Kora and asked him who
he was and whether he did not find it very cold, lying
out in the open. " No " answered Kora, " I don't find
it cold: this is my dog and he has eaten up all my
cold : he will eat up the cold of a lakh of people."
The headman at once thought that a dog that could do
this would be a very useful animal to possess: he had
to spend a lot of money in providing clothes for his
farm labourers and yet they all suffered from the cold,
while if he could get hold of the dog he and all his
household would be permanently warm : so he asked
THE LAZY MAN 273
Kora what price he set on the dog. Kora said that he
would sell it for fifty lakhs of rupees and no less : he
would not bargain about the matter : the headman might
take it or leave it as he liked. The headman agreed
to the terms and taking Kora to his house paid him
over the money. Kora made no delay in setting ofif
homewards and when he arrived the first thing he did
was to tell his brothers to find him a wife as he had
now enough money to pay all the expenses of his mar-
riage. When his brothers found that the lazy one of
the family had come home with such a fortune they
gave him a very different reception from what they used
to before, and set to work to arrange his marriage and
the three brothers all lived happily ever after.
Meanwhile the headman who had bought the dog
sent for his labourers and told them of his luck in
finding such a valuable animal. He bade them tie it
up at the door of the hut on the threshing floor in
which they slept: and in the morning to lead it round
with them as they drove the oxen that trod out the
grain, and then they would none of them feel cold.
That night the labourers put the matter to the test but
although the dog was tied up by the door the men in
the hut shivered all night long as usual. Then in the
morning they one after the other tried leading the dog
as they drove the oxen round the threshing floor but
it did not make them any warmer, so they soon got
tired and tied the dog up again. Presently their master
came along and asked what they had done with the
dog and was told that the animal would not eat up the
cold at all. The headman would not believe that he had
been duped and began to lead the dog round to try for
himself. Only too soon he had to admit that it made
no difference. So, in a rage he caught up a stick and
beat the poor dog to death. Thus he lost his money
and got well laughed at by all the village for his folly.
18
274 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
XCL ANOTHER LAZY MAN.
Once upon a time there was a man named Kora
who was so lazy that his brothers turned him out of
the. house and he had to go out into the world to seek
his fortune. At first he tried to get some other young
man of the village to keep him company on his travels
but they all refused to have anything to do with such
a lazy fellow, so he had to set out alone. However,
he was resolved to have a companion of some sort, so
when he came to a place where a crab had been bur-
rowing he set to work and dug it out of the ground
and took it along with him, tied up in his cloth.
He travelled on for days and weeks until he came
to a country which was being devastated by a Rakhas
who preyed on human beings, and the Raja of the
country had proclaimed that any one who could kill
the Rakhas should have one of his sisters in marriage
and a large grant of land. Kora however knew nothing
of all this and that evening he camped for the night
under a tree on the outskirts of a village. Presently
the villagers came out and begged him to come and
spend the night in one of their houses, as it was im-
possible for a man to sleep safely in the open by him-
self. "Do not trouble about me," said Kora, "I am
not alone : I have a companion and we two shall be
quite safe together." The villagers saw no one with
him and could not understand what he was talking
about, but as he would not listen to them they had to
leave him to his fate.
Night came on and as usual Kora untied the crab
from his cloth and soon fell asleep. About midnight
the Rakhas came prowling along and seeing Kora
sleeping alone made towards him. But the crab rushed
at the Rakhas and climbing up his body seized his neck
ANOTHER LAZY MAN 275
with its claws and slit the windpipe. Down fell the
Rakhas and lay kicking on the ground. The noise
awoke Kora, who seized a big stone and dashed out
the brains of the Rakhas. He then cut off the tips of
the ears and tongue and claws and wrapped them up
in his cloth and lay down to sleep again with the crab
in his bosom.
At dawn the chowkidar of the village, who was a
Dome, came on his rounds and found the Rakhas lying
dead. He thought that it would be easy for him to
obtain the credit of having killed it : so he cut off one
of the legs and hurrying home told his wife and children
to clear out of the house at once : he had nothing more
to do with them, as he was going to marry the Raja's
sister and become a great landowner. Then he rushed
out into the village, shouting out that he had killed the
Rakhas. The villagers all went to see the dead body
and found it lying near the tree under which they had
left Kora to spend the night. They were not quite
convinced that the Dome's story was true and asked
Kora who had really killed the Rakhas. He declined
to answer but asked that he and the Dome might both
be taken to the Raja, and then proof would be forth-
coming as to who was really entitled to the reward.
So the villagers took up the dead body and carried it
off to the Raja, taking Kora and the Dome with them.
The Raja asked what proof there was as to who had
killed the Rakhas : and first the Dome produced the leg
which he had cut off; but Kora unrolled his cloth and
showed the ears and tongue and claws of the Rakhas.
It was at once seen that the leg which the Dome had
brought wanted the claws, so his fraud was clearly proved
and he was driven from the assembly with derision and
had to go and humbly make his peace with the wife
whom he had turned out of his house. But the nup-
tials of Kora and the Raja's sister took place at once
276 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and they were given a fine palace to live in and a large
tract of country for their own.
Kora never allowed himself to be separated from his
faithful crab and this led to his life being saved a second
time. A few nights after he was married, Kora was lying
asleep with the crab upon his breast, when two snakes
began to issue from the nostrils of his bride : their pur-
pose was to kill Kora but when they saw the watchful
crab they drew in their heads again. A few minutes
later they again looked out: then the crab went and
hid under the chin of the Princess and when the snakes
put out their heads far enough it seized both of them
with its claws: the snakes wriggled and struggled until
they came entirely out of the nose of the princess and
were dragged to the floor where the crab strangled them.
In the morning Kora awoke and saw what the crab had
done : he asked what he could do to show his gratitude
to his faithful friend, and the crab asked to be set free
in some pond which never dried up and that Kora would
rescue it if any one ever succeeded in catching it. So
Kora chose a tank and set the crab free and every day
he used to go and bathe in that tank and the crab used
to come and meet him.
After living in luxury for a time Kora went with a
grand procession of horses and elephants to visit his
industrious brothers who had turned him out of their home
for laziness, and he showed them that he had chosen
the better part, for they would never be able to keep
horses and elephants for all their industry: so he invited
them to come and live with him on his estate and when
they had reaped that year's crops they went with him.
XCIL THE WIDOW'S SON.
Once upon a time there was a poor woman whose
husband died suddenly from snake bite, leaving her
THE WIDOWS SON 277
with one little girl. At the time she was expecting
another child and every day she lamented the loss of
her husband and prayed to Chando that the child she
should bear might be a son: but fresh troubles came
upon her, for when her husband's brothers saw that she
was with child they declared that she had been unfaith-
ful to her husband and had murdered him to conceal
her shame : and although they had no proof of this, they
seized on all their dead brother's property and land and
left the widow nothing but the bare house to live in.
But Chando had pity on her and when her time was
full a boy was born to her. She gave thanks to Chando
and devoted hersalf to bringing up the child. The boy
grew up and learned to walk and talk and one day he
asked his mother where his father was. She told him
that a snake had bitten his father before he was born.
Thereupon the boy embraced her and told her not to
cry as he would support her and take the place of his
father. The mother was filled with wonder and gratitude
at the boy's intelligence.
In answer to her daily prayers she met with kindness
at all hands : when she went out working her employers
gave her extra wages : when she went gleaning something
extra was left for her, and if she had to beg no one
refused to give her alms, so in time she was able to
get together some household requisites and start keeping
fowls and pigs. By selling these she saved enough
money to buy goats and sheep: and in course of time
was able to think of buying a cow.
By that time her son — whom she called Bhagraihad
grown up to be a boy and took an interest in all
that went on: so he asked his mother how he could
tell when to buy a heifer. She said that if when the
seller was showing a cow to an intending purchaser the
animal dropped dung, it should be bought without
hesitation, as such a cow was sure to take kindly to its
278 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
new home and to have plenty of calves : another equally
good sign was if the cow had nine teeth. Thereupon
Bhagrai declared that he would set out to buy a cow
and be guided in his choice by these signs and not
come back till he found one. His mother thought that
he was too young to undertake such a business but at
last yielded to his entreaties. Then he tried to get
some one in the village to go with him on his expedi-
tion but no one of his own friends or relations would
go, so he had to arrange with a man of the blacksmith
caste to keep him company.
Early one morning they set out, enquiring as they
went along whether any one had a cow for sale. For
a long time they were unsuccessful but after passing
right through the territories of one Raja, they at length
came to a village where they heard of a heifer for sale.
As they were examining it it dropped dung, and on
inspection its mouth showed nine teeth. Bhagrai at
once declared that he must buy it and would not listen
to the blacksmith who tried to dissuade him because,
although the animal was full grown, it had had no calf
and was probably barren. Bhagrai however preferred
to be guided by the signs of which his mother had told
him, and after a certain amount of haggling bought the
animal for five rupees. The money was paid and he
and the blacksmith set off homewards with the cow.
Night overtook them and they turned into a village
and asked to be allowed to sleep in the verandah of
one of the houses : and permission being given they
tied the cow to a post and went to sleep. In the
middle of the night the owner of the house came and
took away their cow and tied an old and worthless
one of his own in its place. On waking in the morning
Bhagrai and the blacksmith saw at once what had
happened and charged the owner of the house with the
theft. He vehemently denied all knowledge of the
THE WIDOWS SON 279
matter and after they had quarrelled for a long time
went to call the villagers to arbitrate between them.
But he took care to promise the headman and leading
villagers a bribe of fiye rupees if they decided the case
in his favour : so the result was a foregone conclusion
and the arbitrators told Bhagrai to take away the old
worthless cow.
He however refused to accept the decision and said
that he would go and find two people to represent
him on the panchayat. The villagers raised no objec-
tion for they knew that he was a stranger, and thought
that they could easily convince any persons he might
pick up. Bhagrai set off towards a village he saw
ni the distance but lost his way in the jungle, and
as he was wandering about he came on two jackals.
On seeing him they started to run but he called to
them to stop and telling them all that had happened
asked them to come to the panchayat. The jackals
answered that it was clear that the villagers had been
bribed, but they would come and do what was possible.
They told him to bring the villagers with both the
cows to a big banyan tree outside the village, All the
villagers went out to meet the jackals and Bhagrai
stood up in the midst and began to explain his grievance.
Meanwhile the jackals sat quite still, seeming to take
no interest in what was going on. "A fine pair these
are to have on a panchayat" said the villagers to each
other, " they are nearly asleep : they have been up all
night catching crabs and grasshoppers and now are
too tired to keep awake." "No," said one jackal, "we
are not as sleepy as you think : we are quite willing to
take a part in deciding this dispute: but the fact is
that I and my wife have a quarrel and we want you
first to decide that for us and then we will take up the
question of the cow; if you villagers can settle our
difference satisfactorily we shall be able to conclude
28o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
that you have given a fair judgement on the complaint
of this orphan boy."
The villagers told him to continue and he explained
"I and my wife always go about together: we eat at
the same time and drink at the same time and yet
she drops dung twice a day while I do so only once:
what is the reason of this?" The villagers could think
of no answer and the jackal bade them ask his wife :
so they laughed and asked whether it was true that
she dropped dung twice to the he-jackal's once. But
the jackal reproved them for their levity, wise men
of old had said that it was wrong to jest when men
of weight met to decide a dispute; so they became
serious and the she-jackal answered "It is true that I
drop dung twice to his once: there is an order laid
on me to do so: I drop dung once at the same time
that he does : that excrement falls to the ground and
stays there: but the second time the excrement falls
into the mouths of the ancestors of those men who
take bribes and do injustice to the widow and orphan
and when such bribetakers reach the next world they
will also have to eat it. If however they confess their
sin and ask pardon of me they will be let off the
punishment : this is the reason why I have been ordered
to drop dung twice." " Now you have heard what she
has to say" put in the he-jackal "what to you think
of the explanation? I hope that there are no such
bribetakers among you: if there are they had better
confess at once."
Then all the villagers who had agreed . to take a
share of the bribe and had helped to rob the boy
of his cow confessed what they had done and declared
that the boy should have his cow again, and they
fined the thief five rupees. So Bhagrai and the black-
smith went gladly on their way and the blacksmith
soon told all his neighbours of the two wonderful
THE BOY WHO WAS CHANGED INTO A DOG 281
jackals who talked like men and had compelled the
villagers to restore the stolen cow. "Ah" said the
boy's mother " they were not jackals, they were Chando."
When Bhagrai's uncles heard all this and saw how he
and his mother had prospered in spite of the loss of
all their property, they became frightened and gave
back the land and cattle which they had taken, without
waiting for them t& be claimed.
XCIII. THE BOY WHO WAS CHANGED INTO A DOG.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers : the six
eldest were married, but the youngest was only a youth
and looked after the cattle. The six married brothers
spent their life in hunting and used often to be away
from home for one or two months at a time. Now all
their six wives were witches and directly their husbands
left home the six women used to climb a peepul tree
and ride away on it, to eat men or do some other
devilry. The youngest brother saw them disappear
every day and made up his mind to find out what they
did. So one morning he hid in a hollow in the trunk
of the peepul tree and waited till his sisters-in-law came
and climbed up into the branches: then the tree rose
up and was carried through the air to the banks of a
large river, where the women climbed down and dis.
appeared. After a time they came back and climbed
into the tree and rode on it back to the place where
it came from. But as they descended they saw their
brother-in-law hiding in the trunk and at first they tried
to make him promise not to tell what he had seen,
but he swore that he would let his brothers know all
about it: so then they thought of killing him, but in
the end the eldest said that this was not necessary and
she fetched two iron nails and drove them into the
soles of his feet whereupon he at once became a dog.
282 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
He could understand all that was said but of course
could not speak. He followed them home and they
treated him well and always gave him a regular helping
at meals as if he were a human being and did not
merely throw him the scraps as if he were a dog : nor
would he have eaten them if they had.
A month afterwards the other brothers came home and
asked if all had gone well in their absence. Their wives
said that all was well except that the youngest brother
had unfortunately disappeared without leaving any trace.
While they were talking the dog came up and fawned
on the brothers, so they asked where it had come from
and the women said that it had followed them home
on the day that they were looking for the missing boy :
and they had kept it ever smce. So matters rested:
the brothers searched high and low but could not find
the missing boy and so gave up the quest.
Now the Raja of that country had three daughters
whom he had tried in vain to get married : whenever a
bridegroom was proposed to them they declared that
he was not to their liking and they would have nothing
to do with him. At last their faither said that as they
would not let him choose husbands for them, they must
make the choice themselves: he proposed to assemble
all the men in his kingdom on a certain day and there
and then they must take to themselves husbands.
So proclamation was made that all the men were to
assemble outside the palace and that three of them
would receive the Raja's daughters in marriage without
having to pay any brideprice. On the fixed day a great
crowd collected and among others went the six brothers :
and the dog followed them. Then the three princesses
were brought out and three flies were caught : round
one fly was tied a piece of white thread for the eldest
princess and round the second fly a red thread for the
second princess: and round the last fly a blue thread
THE BOY WHO WAS CHANGED INTO A DOG 283
for the youngest princess. Then the three princesses
solemnly promised that each would marry the man on
whom the fly marked with her colour settled, and the
flies were let loose. The red fly and the blue fly soon
settled on two of the men sitting in the crowd but the
white fly flew high in the air and circled round and at
last settled on the dog which was sitting beside the six
brothers.
At this the crowd laughed and jeered but the eldest
princess said that she must accept what fate had decreed
and that she would marry the dog. So the betrothal
ceremony of the three princesses took place at once,
soon followed by their weddings. The husbands of the
two youngest princesses took their brides home, but the
eldest princess stayed in her father's house with her dog.
One day after its dinner the dog was lying on its
side asleep and the princess chanced to see the heads
of the iron nails in its feet: "Ah," thought she," that
is why the poor dog limps." So she ran and fetched
a pair of pincers and pulled out the nails: no sooner
had she done so than the dog was restored to its human
shape and the princess was delighted to find that not
only was he a man but also very handsome: and they
settled down to live happily together.
Some months later the six brothers resolved to go
and visit the Raja, so that the princess might not feel
that the dog she had married had no friends in the
world. Off they set and when they reached the Raja's
palace they were amazed to find their younger brother
and still more so when they heard the story of all that
had happened to him.
They immediately decided to take vengeance on their
wives and when they reached home gave orders for a
large well to be dug : when it was ready they told their
wives to join in the consecration ceremony which was
to ensure a pure and plentiful supply of water: so the
284 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
six witches went to the well and while their attention
was occupied, their husbands pushed them all into the
well and filled it up with earth and that was the end
of the witches.
XCIV. BIRLURI AND BIRBANTA.
BiRLURl was of the Goala caste and Birbanta of the
oilman's caste. And this is the story of their fight.
Birluri was very rich, with great herds of cattle and
buffaloes but Birbanta's wealth consisted in tanks and
ponds. Birluri used every day to water his cattle at
Birbanta's ponds: and this made Birbanta very angry:
he felt it an injustice that though Birluri was so rich
he would not dig his own ponds : so he sent word that
Birluri must stop watering his cattle or he would be
killed. Birluri answered the messengers that he was
quite ready to fight Birbanta: for though Birbanta had
made the tanks, it was God who had made the water
in them and so he considered that his cattle had a
perfect right to drink the water. When Birbanta heard
this he fell into a rage and vowed that he would not
let the cattle drink, but would kill every living thing
that went down to the water. From that day he let no
one drink from his tanks: when women went to draw
water he used to smash their water pots and put the
rims round their necks like necklaces : all wild birds and
animals he shot: and the cattle and buffaloes he cut
down with his axe : and at last he proceeded to kill any
human beings who went there.
When the Raja of the country heard this he was very
angry and bade his sipahis search for some one strong
enough to overcome and kill Birbanta : and he promised
as a reward the hand of one of his daughters and half
his kingdom. So the sipahis made proclamation all
through the country and at last Birluri heard of it and
BIRLURI AND BIRBANTA 285
volunteered to fight Birbanta. Then the Raja fixed a
day for the fight, so that all the country might know
and Birbanta also have due warning.
Both the combatants made ready for the fray : Birbanta
was armed with a sword and a shield like a cart wheel
and was skilful at sword play, while Birluri's weapon
was the quarter-staff. The day arrived and Birluri girded
up his loins and set out, twirling his staff round his head.
Now his father and mother were both dead ; but on the
road his mother met him in the guise of an old woman,
so that he did not recognise her. She greeted him and
asked where he was going and when she heard that it
was to fight Birbanta she said " My son, you are very
strong : but if he asks for water do not give it him, for
if you do, he will assuredly kill you : but when he throws
away his sword, do you make haste and take it and slay
him with it." So saying she went on her way and
when Birluri came within a kos of the fighting place he
began to twirl his staff and he made such a cloud of
dust that it became dark as night and in the darkness
the staff gleamed like lightning.
When Birbanta saw this he rose up and shouted
"Here comes my enemy: I will fight my best and we
will see who will conquer" and when he saw Birluri
armed only with a quarter-staff he felt sure that he
would not be overcome by such a weapon: so he
grasped his sword and took his shield on his arm and
went out to the fight. The fray was fast and furious:
Birbanta hacked and hacked with his sword but Birluri
caught all the blows on his quarterstaff and took no
injury. At last the end of the staff was hacked off
leaving a sharp point: then Birluri transfixed Birbanta
with the pointed end and Birbanta faltered: again he
thrust him through and Birbanta acknowledged himself
defeated, saying "My life is yours: let me drink some
water at your hands before you kill me." So Birluri
286 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
agreed to a truce and they stopped fighting. Then
Birluri cut down a palm tree and dipped it into Birbanta's
tank and holding out the end to Birbanta told him to
suck it. Birbanta refused to take it and asked him to
give him water in his hands: but Birluri remembered
his mother's warning and refused. Then Birbanta in
despair threw away his sword and shield and Birluri
snatched up the sword and smote off his head : and this
is the song of victory which Birluri sang. —
" Birbanta stopped the ghat for the golden oxen—
The dust is raised up to heaven!
Birbanta sat by the ghat of the oxen—
The lightning is flashing in the skyl
He has made an embankment: he has made a tank:
But the water he collected in it, has become his enemy 1"
Then Birluri was taken to the Raja and married to
one of the Raja's daughters and given one half of the
Raja's kingdom.
After a time Birluri told his wife that they must go
back to his home to look after the large herds of cattle
which he had left behind him. But his wife laughed at
him and would not believe that he owned so much
property : then Birluri said that if she would not go with
him he would call the cattle to come to him : so he
called them all by name and the great herd came
running to the Raja's palace and filled the whole barn
yard and as there was no room for them to stay there,
they went away into the jungle and became wild cattle.
XCV. THE KILLING OF THE RAKHAS.
Once upon a time a certain country was ravaged by
a Rakhas to such an extent that there were only the
Raja and a few ryots left. When things came to this
pass, the Raja saw that something must be done: for
he could not be left alone in the land. Ryots need a
THE KILLING OF THE RAKHAS 287
Raja and a Raja needs ryots: if he Had no ryots where
was he to get money for his support: and he repeated
the verse of the poet Kalidas :
"When the jungle is destroyed, the deer are in trouble
without jungle:
When the Raja is destroyed, the ryots are in trouble
without their Raja:
When the good wife of the house is destroyed,
good fortune flees away."
So thinking the Raja made a proclamation throughout
all the land that if any one could kill the Rakhas he
would reward him with the hand of one of his daughters
and half his kingdom. This proclamation was read out
by the headman of a certain village to the assembled
villagers and among the crowd was a mischievous youth,
named Jhalka, who when he heard the proclamation called
out that he could kill the Rakhas in ten minutes. The
villagers turned on him "Why don't you go and do
so: then you would marry the Raja's daughter and we
should all bow down to you." At the thought of this
Jhalka began to skip about crying "I will finish him
off in no time." The headman heard him and took him
at his word and wrote to the Raja that in his village
there was a man who undertook to kill the Rakhas.
When Jhalka heard this he hurried to the headman
and explained that he had only been joking. "I can-
not treat such things as a joke" answered the headman:
"Don't you know that this is a Raja's matter: to deal
with Rajas is the same as to deal with bongas: you
may make a promise to the bongas in jest, but they
will not let you off it on that plea. You are much
too fond of playing the fool."
Ten or twelve days later sipahis came from the Raja
to fetch Jhalka: he told them that he had only spoken
in jest and did not want to go to the Raja, but they
took him away all the same.
288 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Before he started he picked out a well-tempered
battle axe and begged his father to propitiate the bongas
and pray that he might be saved from the Rakhas.
When he was produced before the Raja, Jhalka again
tried to explain that there had been a mistake, but the
Raja told him that he would be taken at his word and
must go and kill the Rakhas. Then he saw that there
was nothing left for him but to put his trust in God:
so he asked that he might be given two mirrors and a
large box and when these were brought he had the
box taken to the foot of a large banyan tree which
grew by a ford in the river which flowed by the hill
in which the Rakhas lived : it was at this ford that the
Rakhas used to lie in wait for prey.
Left alone there Jhalka put one of the mirrors into
the box and then tightened his cloth and climbed the
banyan tree with his battle axe and the other mirror.
He was not at all happy as he waited for the Rahkas,
thinking of all the people who had been killed as they
passed along the road below the tree: however he was
determined to outwit the Rakhas if he could. All night
long he watched in vain but just at dawn the Rakhas
appeared. At the sight of him Jhalka shook so much
with fright that the branches of the tree swayed. The
Rakhas smelt that there was a human being about and
looking up into the tree saw the branches waving. " Ha,"
said he, "here is my breakfast." Jhalka retorted "Ha 1 here
is another Rakhas to match those Lhave got." "What
are you talking about?" asked the Rakhas: "I am glad
to have met you at last" returned Jhalka. "Why?"
asked the Rakhas, "and what are you trembling for?"
"I am trembling with rage: we shall now see whether
I am to eat you or you are to eat me."
"Come down and try."
"No, you come up here and try."
Jhalka would not leave the tree and the Rakhas would
THE CHILDREN AND THE VULTURES 289
not climb it : so they waited. At last the Rahhas asked
''Who are you? I have seen a thousand men like you"
And Jhalka answered "Who are you? I have seen a
thousand like you." At this the Rakhas began to hesitate
and wonder whether Jhalka was really his equal in strength,
so he changed the subject and asked what the big box
was. " That is the box into which I put Rakhases like
you when I catch them; I have got plenty more at
home." "How many are there in the box?" "Two
or three."
The Rakhas asked to see them, but Jhalka would not
leave the tree until the Rakhas had sworn an oath to
do him no harm; then he came down and opened the
box and made the Rakhas look into the mirror inside
the box ; and he also held up the second mirror saying
that there was another Rakhas. , The Rakhas was fascina-
ted at the sight of his own reflection; when he grinned
or opened his mouth the reflection did the same; and
while he was amusing himself with making different
grimaces Jhalka suddenly cut him down with the battle-
axe, and he fell down dead. Then Jhalka cut off" the
ears and tongue and toes and hastened with them to
the Raja. When it was found that the Rakhas was
really dead the Raja assembled all his subjects and in
their presence married Jhalka to his daughter and made
over to him half the kingdom and gave him horses
and elephants and half of everything in his palace.
XCVI. THE CHILDREN AND THE VULTURES.
Once upon a time all the women of a village went
to the jungle to gather karla fruit ; and one of them
was pregnant. In the jungle she felt that her time was
come and she went aside without telling any of her
friends and gave birth to twin boys. The other women
went on gathering fruit and when they had filled their
19
290 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
baskets and were on their way home they noticed that
one of their number was missing, but as it was late they
were afraid to go back and look for her, and besides
they felt sure that she must have been devoured by
some wild animal.
Meanwhile the mother of the twins began to call to
her friends, but they were far out of hearing ; so she
debated whether she should carry home the two babes
or her basket of karla fruit ; she did not feel strong
enough to carry both the infants in her arms and so
she decided to take the basket of fruit, especially as
she would probably have plenty more children, while
the karla fruit could not be replaced. She covered the
twins with leaves of the Asan tree and went home.
But when her husband heard what had happened he
was very angry and scolded her well; she could easily
have thrown away the fruit and carried home the children
in the basket tinsead of taking so much trouble about
the karla fruit, as if no one had ever seen any before.
He wanted to take a few friends and go and look for
the children at once ; but his father and mother begged
him not to risk his life in the jungle at night; the
woman had been a fool but that could not be remedied ;
people must learn by experience ; as the Hindu proverb
says "When your caste goes, wisdom comes." They
could not allow the breadwinner of the family to risk his
life ; though the roof and doors of the house had gone,
the walls remained; as long as the tree stood new
branches would grow; but if the tree fell there was no
more hope; so in the end the children were left where
they were.
No sooner had the mother gone than a pair of king
vultures swooped down to make a meal of the children
but they cried so pitifully that the vultures had not
the heart to kill them but instead carried them up to
their nest and brought them food: and nurtured them.
THE CHILDREN AND THE VULTURES 291
And when the children began to walk they carried
them down to the ground and when they were big
enough to take care of themselves they told them to
go into the neighbouring villages and beg ; but they
forbade them to go towards the village in which their
real parents lived. So every day the two boys went
out begging, and as they went from house to house,
they sang: —
"Our mother took away the karla fruit
She covered us up with Asan leaves.
The pair of King vultures
Reared us.— Give us alms."
And people had pity on them and gave them enough
to live on. One day the two boys thought that they
would go and see what the country was like in the
direction which had been forbidden to them; so they
set out singing their usual song, and when they came
to the house where their mother lived she heard them
sing and knew that they must be her children; so she
called them and bathed them and oiled their bodies and
told them that she was their mother and they were very
glad to stay with her.
But when the children did not return, the vultures
flew in search of them and circled round and round in
the air looking for them. The mother saw them and
knew what they wanted, so she took the children into
the house and hid them under a large basket. But the
vultures flew down to the house and tore a hole in the
thatch and entered through it and overturned the basket
and seized the children. Then the father and mother
also caught hold of them and the vultures pulled and
the parents pulled until the children were torn in two
and the vultures flew away with the portions they had
secured. The father and mother sorrowfully burnt on a
pyre the remains of the children that were left to them.
The vultures when they reached their nest were
292 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
unwilling to eat the flesh of the children they had
reared, so they set fire to their nest; but as the flames
rose high, some juice spirted out from the burning flesh
on to the vultures and they tasted it and found it so
good that they pulled the rest of the flesh out of the
flames and ate it, and from that time vultures feed on
human bodies.
XCVIL THE FERRYMAN.
There was once a ferryman who plied a ferry across
a big river, and he had two wives. By the elder wife
he had five sons and by the younger only one. When
he grew old he gave up work himself and left his sons
to manage the boats; but the step-brothers could not
agree and were always quarrelling. So the father gave
one boat to the son of the younger wife and told him
to work it by himself at a separate crossing higher up
the river, while the five other brothers plied to old ferry.
It turned out that most passengers used to cross at
the youngest brother's ferry and as he had no one to
share the profits with him, his earnings were very large.
Because of this he used to jeer at his other brothers
who were not so well off. This made them hate him
more than ever, and they resolved to be revenged; so
one day when he was alone in the boat they set it
adrift down the river without any oars.
As he drifted helplessly down the river he saw a
river snake, as long as the river was broad, waiting for
him with open mouth. He thought that his last hour
had come, but he seized a knife which was in the boat
and waited. When the stream brought him within
reach, the snake swallowed him, boat and all, and swam
to the bank. When he felt the snake climbing up the
bank he began to cut his way out of its stomach with
his knife, and soon made a wound which killed the snake
THE FERRYMAN 293
and enabled htm to make his way out and pull out the
boat. Then he looked about him and saw a large
village near by, so he went towards it to tell the
villagers how he had killed the great snake. But when
he reached it he found it deserted ; he went from house
to house but found no one. At last he came to a
house in which there was one girl, who told him that
she was the only inhabitant left, as the great river snake
had eaten up all the other people. Then he told her
how he had killed the snake and took her to see its
dead body. The village was full of the wealth left by
its former inhabitants; so he and the girl decided to
stay there, and there were such riches that they lived
like a Raja and Rani.
One morning his wife told him that she had had a
dream, in which she was warned that he must on no
account go out towards the south of the village ; but
he laughed at her, because he had up to that time
moved about wherever he liked without any harm. She
begged him to listen to her advice, because it was by
her wisdom that she had saved her life when every
one else in the village had been killed, so for a few
days he obeyed her, but one morning he took a sword
and went off towards the south. He had not gone far
when he came to a cow, which had fallen into a pit,
and it called to him. "Oh Brother, I have fallen into
great trouble; help me out and one day I will do the
same to you, if you ask my aid." So he took pity on
the cow and pulled it out. Going on a little further he
came to a buffalo which had stuck fast in a bog and
it also called to him for help and promised to do the
like for him in case of need. So he pulled it out of
the mud, and went on his way. Presently he came to
a well and from the depths of the well a man who had
fallen into it cried to him for help; so he went and
pulled him up ; but no sooner had the man reached the
294 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
surface than he turned and pushed his rescuer down the
well and ran away.
His wife waited and waited for his return and when
he did not come, she divined that he had gone towards
the south in spite of her warning. So she went to look
for him and presently found him at the bottom of the
well. So she let down a rope and pulled him up and
gave him a scolding for his folly.
After this they thought it best to leave that country,
so they embarked on the boat and travelled back to his
father's house.
XCVIIL CATCHING A THIEF.
There was once a rich Raja ; and in order to frighten
away thieves whenever he woke up at night he used
to call out —
"What are you people saying? I know all about it:
You are digging the earth and throwing the earth away:
I know all about it: you are skulking there scraping a hole."
One night a gang of thieves really came and began
to dig a hole through the mud wall of the Raja's house.
And while they were at work the Raja woke up and
called out as usual. The thieves thought that they were
discovered and bolted. The next morning the hole they
had been making was found, and the Raja ordered his
sipahies to catch the thieves. The head of all the
thieves was a Bhuyan by caste and for five rupees he
would catch any thief you wanted. So the sipahies
were told to bring this Bhuyan and they went to a
potter and asked. " Ho, maker of pots, he who makes
whole paddy into china: where does he live?" And the
potter answered. " He who heats pewter ; his house is
over there." Following this direction they found the
Bhuyan and he caught the thieves for them.
THE GRASPING RAJA 295
XCIX. THE GRASPING RAJA.
There was once a Raja who was very rich. He was
a stern man and overbearing and would brook no
contradiction. Not one of his servants or his subjects
dared to question his orders; if they did so they got
nothing but abuse and blows. He was a grasping man
too ; if a cow or a goat strayed into his herds he would
return the animal if its owner claimed in the same day ;
but he would not listen to any claim made later. He
was so proud that he thought that there was no one
in the world wiser than himself.
It happened that a certain man living in the kingdom
of this Raja lost a cow; one evening it did not come
back to its stall from the grazing-ground ; so the next
day he set out to search for it and questioned every
one he met. He soon got news that a cow like his
had been seen in the Raja's herd. So he went to look,
and there, among the Raja's cattle, he saw his own cow.
He asked the cowherd to let him take it away; but
the cowherd refused to do so without a written order
from the Raja. So the owner went off to the Raja and
claimed his cow; but the Raja would not listen and
gave him only abuse and turned him out. Then he
went to his friends and asked them to help him but
they were afraid to do anything and advised him to
regard the cow as lost for good.
So the unfortunate man took his way homeward very
unhappily; on the way he sat down by the bank of a
stream and began to bewail his loss. As he cried, Thakur
took pity on him and sent a jackal to him. The jackal
came and asked why he was crying, and when it had
heard the story of the loss of the cow, it said " Cheer
up I go back to the Raja and tell him that you want a
panchayat to settle, the matter about the cow ; and that
296 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
you intend to call one whether he agrees to abide by
its decision or no. If he agrees, come back quickly to
me and I will arrange to get back your cow for you." So
off went the owner of the cow to the Raja and told him
that he wanted to call a panchayat. The Raja made
no objection and bade him call the neighbours together.
The poor man did so and then hurried off to the jackal
and told it how things had turned out. The jackal
returned with him to the outskirts of the city and then
sent him to the Raja to say that the panchayat must
be held on the plain outside the city — for the jackal
was afraid of the dogs in the city.
When the Raja received this message it made him very
angry, however he went outside the city and met the
panchayat and ordered them to get to business quickly.
Then the owner of the cow stood up and told his story and
the neighbours who had assembled called to him encoura-
gingly, but the jackal sat in the background and pretended
to be asleep. When the tale was finished, the Raja told
the people who had assembled to give their decision,
but they were all so afraid of the Raja that not one
ventured to speak. As they kept silence the Raja turned
o the owner of the cow. " Well, where are the people
who are going to judge the case.'' No one here will
say a word." "That is my judge,'' said the man pointing
to the jackal. "Why it is fast asleep; what sort of a
judge is that?" But just then the jackal shook itself
and said. "I have had a most remarkable dream."
"There, he has been dreaming, instead of listening to
the case." exclaimed the Raja.
"O Raja don't be so scornful" said the jackal, "lam
a cleverer judge than you." "You, who are you?
I have grown old in judging cases and finding out the
truth; and you dare to talk to me like that 1" "Well,"
retorted the jackal, "if you are so clever guess the
meaning of my dream ; and if you cannot, give the man
THE GRASPING RAJA 297
back his cow; if you can say what it means, I will
acknowledge that you are fit to be a Raja. This is
what I dreamt. — I saw three die in one place; one
from sleepiness; one from anger and one from greed.
Tell me what were the three and how did they come
to be in one place."
This riddle puzzled every one, but the friends of the
man who had lost his cow saw their opportunity and
began to call out to the Raja to be quick and give the
answer. The Raja made several guesses, but the jackal
each time said that he was wrong, and asserted that
the real answer would strike every one present as
satisfactory. The Raja was completely puzzled and then
suggested that there was no coherency in dreams: if
the jackal had had some meaningless dream, no one
could guess it. "No," said the jackal, "you just now
laughed at the idea that any one should come to a
panchayat and go to sleep; and what you said was
true ; I would not really go to sleep on an occasion
like this; and I did not really dream. Now show that
you are cleverer than I ; if you can, you keep the cow."
The Raja thought and thought in vain, and at last asked
to be told the answer to the puzzle. First the jackal
made him write out a promise to restore the cow and
to pay twenty-five rupees to the panchayat; and then
it began: — "In a forest lived a wild elephant and every
night it wandered about grazing and in the day it
returned to its retreat in a certain hill. One dawn as
it was on its way back after a night's feeding, it felt so
sleepy that it lay down where it was; and it happened
that its body blocked the entrance to a hole in which
was a poisonous snake. When the snake wanted to
come out and found the way blocked, it got angry and
in its rage bit the elephant and the elephant died then
and there. Presently a jackal came prowling by and
saw the elephant lying dead ; it could not restrain itself
298 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
from such a feast and choosing a place where the skin
was soft began to tear at the flesh. Soon it made such
a large hole that it got quite inside the elephant and
still went on eating. But when the sun grew strong, the
elephant's skjn shrunk and closed the hole and the jackal
could not get out again and died miserably inside the
elephant. The snake too in its hole soon died from
want of food and air. So the elephant met its death
through sleepiness and the snake through anger and the
jackal through greed. This is the answer to the puzzle,
but Chando prevented your guessing it, because you
unjustly took the poor man's cow and as a lesson to
you that he is lord of all, of the poor and weak as
well as of Rajas and Princes."
When the jackal concluded all present cried out that
the answer was a perfect one; but the Raja said "I
don't think much of that; I know a lot of stories like
that myself." However he had to give back the cow
and pay twenty-five rupees to the panchayat. In grati-
tude to the jackal the owner of the cow bought a goat
and gave it to the jackal and then the jackal went
away and was seen no more.
C. THE PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT MARRY.
There was once a Raja who in spite of having many
wives was childless ; and his great desire was to have
a son. He made many vows and performed every cere-
mony that was recommended to him, but in vain. At
last a Jogi came to his kingdom and hearing of his case
told him that if he would pray to Thakur and give
away to the poor one-fourth of all his wealth, he should
have a son.
The Raja followed the Jogi's advice, and in due time
his youngest wife bore him a son ; a son so fair and
so beautiful that there was no one on earth to match
THE PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT MARRY 299
him. When the boy grew up, they began to think
about his marriage and the Raja said that he would
only marry him to a bride as fair and as beautiful
as himself. It did not matter whether she were poor
or rich, all that was needful was that she should be a
match for his son in looks. So messengers were sent
out to all the surrounding kingdoms to look for such a
bride. They searched for years; nine years, ten years
passed and still no bride was found to match in looks
the Prince, After ten years had passed the Prince heard
of this search and he went to his father and announced
that he did not wish to marry ; and that if he ever
should wish to do so, he would find a wife for himself.
The Raja was very angry at this and said that the Prince
wished to bring him to shame; every one would say
that the Raja was too mean to arrange a marriage for
his only son. But the Prince was obstinate and persisted
that he did not wish the Raja to take any steps in the
matter. At this the Raja grew more and more angry,
until at last he ordered the Prince to be taken to prison
and kept there, until he promised to marry any one
whom his father chose.
Every day the warders asked whether he would yield
and every day he refused; and it is impossible to say
how long he would have languished in prison, had not
the wife of the Parganna of the Bongas come one night
to the prison with two other bongas. They began to
talk about the Prince's hard case. The warders heard
them talking, but could see no one. The Bonga Par-
ganna's wife proposed that they should provide a bonga
bride for the Prince, for it was certain that no human
bride could be his match for beauty. The two bongas
agreed that it was a good idea but the Prince had
declared that he would not marry and that was a diffi-
culty. " Let him see the bride I offer him and see what
happens" answered the old Bonga' s wife. So the next
300 . FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
night when the Prince was asleep a beautiful bonga
maiden was brought to the prison and when he awoke
he saw her sitting by his side. He fell in love with
her at first sight and exchanging rings with her promised
that she should be his wife.
Then the warders, who had been watching, ran to the
Raja and told him that the Prince had agreed to marry.
The Raja came and took the Prince and his bride out
of the prison, and the wedding was celebrated with great
rejoicings throughout the kingkom.
CL THE PRINCE WHO FOUND TWO WIVES.
There was once a Raja who had an only son. When
the Prince grew up the courtiers proposed to the Raja
that he should arrange for his son's marriage ; the Raja
however wished to postpone it for a time. So the
courtiers used to laugh and say to the Prince " Wait a
little and we will find you a couple of wives;" the young
man would answer, "What is that? I can find them for
myself. If you offered to find me ten or twelve wives
there would be something in it." The Raja heard of
his boasting like this and was very angry and said " Well
if he is so sure that he can find a wife for himself, let
him do it;" and he took no further steps to arrange
for his son's marriage.
Now the Prince had a most beautiful voice and used
also to play on the one-stringed lute. He used often to
sit up half the night singing and playing to himself.
One night as he sat singing, he heard a laugh and
looking round saw a beautiful bonga girl. He asked
who she was and how she had come there, and she told
him that she lived close by and could not help coming
to see who it was, who was singing so beautifully.
After that she used to visit the Prince every night, but
always disappeared before dawn. This went on for some
THE PRINCE WHO FOUND TWO WIVES 301
weeks and then the Prince asked her to stay and be
his wife. She agreed, provided he would first go to
her home and see her relations. So the next night he
went with her; and found that her father was also a
Raja and very rich. He stayed there three or four
days ; while his mysterious disappearance caused the
greatest consternation at his own home. However he
returned quietly by night and was found sleeping as
usual in his bed one morning. Then he told his parents
all that had happened and how he had left his wife
behind at her father's house.
Two or three days later the Prince fell very ill: every
sort of remedy was tried in vain. As he grew worse and
worse, one day a messenger came from his father-in-law
and offered to cure him if he were removed to his wife's
house. So he was carried thither and when he arrived he
found that his wife was also very ill ; but directly he was
brought to where she lay, at the mere sight of each other
they both became well again.
After some months the Prince and his wife set out
to return to their own home. They were benighted on
the way; so they tied their horses to a tree and
prepared to camp under it. The Prince went to a
bazar to buy provisions and while there, was arrested
on a false charge and was sent to prison. The Princess
waited and waited and at last felt sure that something
must have detained him against his will. She would
not leave the spot, and to make it less likely that she
should be molested, she dressed herself as a man.
Some days passed and the Prince did not return;
then one morning an old woman passing by came and
asked for a light for her hookah, and stayed talking for
some time. The old woman was struck by the sweet
face and gentle voice of the stranger, and on her return
told the daughter of the Raja of that country that there
was a strange young man, who looked and talked very
302 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
differently from any of the young men of that neigh-
bourhood. The Raja's daughter was curious to see him,
and the next morning she went with the old woman
and talked with the disguised Princess. Before she left
she was deeply in love with him, and directly she reached
home she sent word to her father that she had seen
the man whom she must marry. " It is of no use to
thwart one's children," said the Raja and at once sent
messengers to bring the stranger to marry his daughter.
When the disguised Princess was brought before the
Raja, she said that she had no objection to being married
provided that it was done according to the custom of
her own country, and that was that the vermilion should
be applied to the bride's forehead with a sword. The
Raja made no objection; so the Princess took her hus-
band's sword and put vermilion on it and then applied
it to the bride's forehead; and so the marriage was
complete. But when the Princess was left alone with
her bride, she confessed that she was a woman and
told her all her history and how her husband had
disappeared in the bazar.
Then the Raja's daughter went to her father and
told him what had happened and had enquiries made
and speedily had the Prince released from prison. Then
the prince himself again put vermilion on the forehead
of the Raja's daughter, and a few days later set off home
with both his wives. This was the way in which he
found two wives for himself, as he had boasted that
he would.
CII. THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE.
Once upon a time there were two brothers and as
their wives did not get on well together, they lived
separately. After a time it came to the ears of the
elder brother that the younger brother's wife was carrying
THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE 303
on an intrigue with a certain Jugi; so he made up his
mind to watch her movements. One night he saw a
white figure leave his brother's house and, following it
quietly, he saw it go into the Jugi's house, and creeping
nearer, he heard his sister-in-law's voice talking inside.
He was much grieved at what he had seen, but could
not make up his mind to tell his brother.
One day the elder brother found that he had no milk
in the house, as all his cows had run dry ; so he sent a
servant to his brother's house to ask for some milk;
but the younger brother's wife declined to give any, and
sent word that her brother-in-law was quite rich enough
to buy milch cows if he wanted milk. The elder brother
said nothing at this rebuff, but after a time it happened
that the younger brother's cows all became dry, and he
in his turn sent to his elder brother for milk. The elder
brother's wife was not disposed to give it, but her hus-
band bade her not bear malice and to send the milk.
After this the elder brother sent for the other and
advised him to watch his wife and see where she went
to at night. So that night the younger brother lay
awake and watched; and in the middle of the night
saw his wife get up very quietly and leave the house.
He followed her ; as the woman passed down the village
street, some Mahommedans, who had been sitting up
smoking ganja, saw her and emboldened by the drug
set out to see who it was, who was wandering about so
late at night. The woman took refuge in a clump of
bamboos and pulled down one of the bamboos to con-
ceal herself. The Mahommedans surrounded the clump
but when they saw the one bamboo which the woman
held shaking, while all the rest were still— for it was a
windless night — they concluded that it was an evil spirit
that they were pursuing and ran away in a panic.
When they were gone, the woman came out from the
bamboos and went on to the Jugi's house. Her husband
304 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
who had been watching all that happened followed her :
and having seen her enter the Jugi's house hastened
home and bolted his door from inside. Presently his
wife returned and found the door which she had left
ajar, fastened ; then she knew that she was discovfired.
She was however full of resource ; she began to beg to
be let her in, but her husband only showered abuse upon
her and bade her go back to the friend she had left.
Then she took a large stone and heaved it into a pool
of water near the house. Her husband heard the splash
and concluded that she was drowning herself. He did
not want to get into trouble with the police, as would
surely be the case if his wife were found drowned, so
he ran out of the house to the pool of water to try and
save her. Seizing this opportunity his wife slipped into
the house and in her turn locked the door from inside;
so that her husband had to spend the rest of the night
out-of-doors.
He could not be kept out of the house permanently
and the next day he gave his wife a thrashing and
turned her out. At evening however she came back
and sat outside in the court-yard, weeping and wailing.
The noise made her husband more angry than ever, and
he shouted out to her that if she did not keep quiet
he would come and cut off her nose. She kept on
crying, and the Jugi heard her and sent an old woman
to call her to him. She declared that if she went her
husband would know and be the more angry with her,
but she might go if the old woman would sit in her
place and keep on crying, so that her husband might
believe her to be still in the courtyard. The old woman
agreed and began to weep and wail, while the other
went off to the Jugi. She wept to such purpose that
the husband at last could not restrain his anger, and
rushing out into the darkness with a knife, cut off the
nose, as he supposed, of his wife.
THE INDUSTRIOUS BRIDE 305
Presently the wife came back and found the old
woman weeping in real earnest over the loss of her
nose. " Never mind, I'll find it and fix it on for you,"
so saying she felt about for the nose till she found it,
clapped it on to the old woman's face and told her to
hold it tight and it would soon grow again. Then she
sat down where she had sat before and began to lament
the cruelty of her husband in bringing a false charge
against her and challenged him to come out and see
the miracle which had occurred to indicate her innocence.
She repeated this so often that at last her husband
began to wonder what she meant, and took a lamp and
went out to see. When he found her sitting on the
ground without a blemish on her face, although he had
seen her with his own eyes go to the Jugi's house, he
could not doubt her virtue and had to receive her back
into the house.
Thus by her cunning the faithless wife escaped the
punishment which she deserved.
cm. THE INDUSTRIOUS BRIDE.
Once upon a time a party of three or four men went
to a village to see if a certain girl would make a
suitable bride for the son of one of their friends; and
while they were talking to her, another young woman
came up. The visitors asked the first girl where her
father was and she told them that he had gone to
"meet water."
Then they asked where her mother was, and she said
that she had gone " to make two men out of one." These
answers puzzled the questioners, and they did not know
what more to say; as they stood silent the other girl
got up and went away remarking, "While I have been
waiting here, I might have carded a seer of cotton."
The men who were looking for a girl who would make
20
3o6 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
a good wife, at once concluded that they had found
what they wanted: "How industrious she must be to
talk like that" thought they— "much better than this
other girl who can only give us incomprehensible an-
swers." And before they left the village they set every-
thing in train for a match between their friend's son
and the girl who seemed so industrious.
When they got home and told their wives what they
had done they got well laughed at : their wives declared
that it was quite easy to understand what the first girl
had meant: of course she meant that her father had
gone to reap thatching grass and her mother had gone
to thresh dal. The poor men only gaped with aston-
ishment at this explanation.
However the marriage they had arranged duly took
place, but the fact was that the bride was entirely
ignorant of how to clean and spin cotton. It was not
long before this was found out, for, in the spring, when
there was no work in the fields, her father-in-law set
all the women of the household to spinning cotton;
and told them that they and their husbands should have
no new clothes until they had finished their task. The
bride, who had been so carefully chosen, tried to learn
how to spin by watching the others, but all in vain.
The other women laughed at her efforts and she
protested that it was the fault of the spinning wheel:
it did not know her ; her mother's spinning wheel knew
her well and she could spin capitally with that. They
jeered at the idea of a spinning wheel having eyes and
being able to recognise its owner; however one day
the young woman went and fetched her mother's spinning
wheel and tried to spin with that. She got on no
better than before, and could only explain it by saying
that the spinning wheel had forgotten her.
Whatever the reason was, the other women all finished
their spinning and received their new clothes, while she
THE BOY AND HIS FATE 307
had nothing to show. Then her father-in-law scolded
her and told her that it was too late to make other
arrangements and as she could not get any new clothes
the best thing for her to do would be to smear her
body with Gur and stick raw cotton all over it. A
parrab soon came round and all the other women got
out their new clothes and went to see the fun. The
clumsy bride had no new clothes and she took her
father-in-law's advice and smeared her body with gur
and covered herself with raw cotton and so went to
the parrab.
Her husband was very angry that she should have
taken her father-in-law's jest in earnest, and when she
came home he gave her a good beating and turned
her out of the house. And that was the end of the
"industrious" bride.
CIV. THE BOY AND HIS FATE. '
There was once a Raja and Rani who had had three
sons, but they had all died when only three or four
months old. Then a fourth son was born, a fine hand-
some child ; and he did not die in infancy but grew up
to boyhood. It was however fated that he should die
when he was sixteen years old and his parents knew
this and when they saw him coming happily home from
his games of play, their eyes filled with tears at the
thought of the fate that hung over him.
One day the boy asked his father and mother why it
was that they were so sorrowful : and they told him how
his three little brothers had died and how they feared that
he had but little longer to live. On hearing this the boy
proposed that he should be allowed to go away into a
far country, as perhaps by this means he might avoid
his fate. His father was glad to catch at the faintest
hope and readily gave his consent: so they supplied
3o8 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
him with money and mounted him on a horse, and off
he set.
He travelled far and settled down in a place that
pleased him. But in a short time the messengers of
death came to the Raja's palace to take him away.
When they did not find him, they followed in pursuit
along the road which he had taken; they wore the
likeness of men and soon traced out the Raja's son.
They presented themselves to him and said that they
had come to take him home again. The prince said
that he was ready to go, but asked them to allow him
to cook and eat his rice before starting. They told
him that he might do this if he were quick about it:
he promised to hurry, and set to his cooking: he put
sufficient rice into the pot to feed them all and when
it was ready he offered some to each of the messengers.
They consulted together as to whether they should eat
it, but their appetites got the better of their caution and
they agreed to do so, and made a good meal. But
directly they had finished they began to debate what
they should do; they had eaten his rice and could no
longer compass his death.
So they told him frankly that Chando had sent them
to call him; he was to die that night and they were to
take away his spirit; but they had made the mistake of
eating at his hands and although they must take him
away, they would give him advice as to how he might
save his life : he was to take a thin piece of lamp-wick
and when Chando questioned him, he was to put it up
his nose and make himself sneeze. The prince promiseit
to remember this, and that night they took his spird
away to Chando, but when Chando began to question
him he made himself sneeze with the lamp- wick; there-
upon Chando at once wrote that he should live for sixty
years more and ordered the messengers to immediately
restore his spirit to its body. Then the prince hasten«d
TAE MESSENGERS OF DEATH 309
back to his father and mother, and told them that he
had broken through his fate and had a long life before
him; and they had better make arrangements for his
marriage at once. This they did and he lived to a
ripe old age, as he had been promised.
CV. THE MESSENGERS OF DEATH.
There was once a Brahman who had four sons born
to him, but they all died young; a fifth son however
was born to him, who grew up to boyhood. But it
was fated that he too should die before reaching man-
hood. One day while his father was away from home,
the messengers of death came to take him away. The
Brahman's wife thought that they were three friends or
relations of her husband, who had come to pay a visit,
and gave them a hearty welcome. And when she asked
who they were, they also told her that they were con-
nections of her husband. Then she asked them to
have some dinner and they said that they would eat>
provided that she used no salt in the cooking. She
promised not to do, but what she did was to scatter some
salt over the bottom of the dish. Then she cooked
the rice and turned it into the dish and gave it to them
to eat. They ate but when they came to the bottom
of the dish they tasted the salt which had been under-
neath. Then the three messengers said "She has got
the better of us ; we have eaten her salt and can no
longer deceive her; we must tell her why we have come."
So they told her that her son was to die that night
and that Chando had sent them to take away his
spirit: all they could do was to let her come too, and
see the place to which her son's spirit was going. The
mother thought that this would be a consolation to her,
so she went with them. When they arrived in the
spirit world they told the Brahman's wife to wait for
them by a certain house in which dwelt her son's wife ;
3io FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and they took the boy to Chando. Presently they
brought him back to the house in which his wife dwelt
and near which his mother was waiting and she over-
heard the following conversation between the boy and
his wife. The wife said "Have you come for good
this time, or must you again go back to the world?"
" I have to go back once more."
"And how will you manage to return again here?"
"I shall ask for the dust of April and May and if it
is not given to me I shall cry myself to death ; and if
that fails, I shall cry for a toy winnowing fan; and if
they give me that, then I will cry for an elephant and
if that fails then on my wedding day there will be two
thorns in the rice they give me to eat and they will
stick in my throat and kill me. And if that does not
come to pass, then, when I return home after the wedding,
a leopard will kill a cow and I shall run out to chase the
leopard and I shall run after it, till I run hither to you."
"When you come back," said his wife, "bring me
some of the vermilion they use in the world" and the
boy promised.
The messengers then took the Brahman's wife home,
and shortly afterwards the boy was born again. His
mother had carefully guarded the memory of all that
she had heard in the other world; and when the child
asked for the dust and the winnowing fan and the
elephant, she at once gratified his desires. So the boy
grew up, and his wedding day arrived. His mother
insisted on accompanying him to the bride's house, and
when the rice was brought for the bride and bridegroom
to eat together, she asked to be allowed to lookj at it
first, and on examining it pulled out the the two thorns ;
and then her son ate it unharmed. But when the
wedding party returned home and the ceremony of
introducing the bride to the house was being performed,
word was brought that a leopard had killed one of the
THE SPEAKING CRAB 311
cows; at once the bridegroom ran out in pursuit; but
his mother followed him and called out, "My son, your
wife told you to take her some of the vermilion of
this world; here is some that I have brought, take it
with you." At this her son stopped and asked her to
explain what she meant; then she told him all and he
went no more in pursuit of the leopard: so he stayed
and grew up and lived to a good old age.
CVI. THE SPEAKING CRAB.
There was once a farmer who kept a labourer and
a field woman to do the work of the farm; and they
were both very industrious and worked as if they were
working on their own account and not for a master.
Once at the time of transplanting rice, they were so
busy that they stayed in the fields all day and had
their meals there and did not go home till the evening.
During this time it happened that the man had unyoked
his plough bullocks and taking his hoe began to dress
the embankment of the field, and as he dug, he dug
out a very large crab ; so he plucked some leaves from
the bushes and wrapped the crab in them and fetching
the yoke rope from the plough, he tied the bundle up
tightly with it and put it on the stump of a tree,
intending to take it home in the evening; but when
he went home he forgot about it.
Now the crab was alive and in the middle of the
night it began to struggle to get out, but could not free
itself. It happened that just then the farmer was walking
in the field to see that no one came to steal his rice
seedlings, and the crab began to sing: —
"This servant, this servant, father,
And this maidservant, this maidservant, father.
Caught me \^hile digging the bank:
And injeayes, leaves, father.
With the yoke rope, yoke rope, father
Tied me and left me on the stump,"
312 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
At this sound the farmer was very frightened, and
puzzled also ; for he thought, " If this were a human
being crying, every one in the neighbourhood would
have heard and woke up, but it seems that I alone am
able to hear the sound; who can it be who is talking
about my servants?" So he went back to bed and told
no one. The next morning when the labourer looked for
his yoke ropes, he missed one ; and then he remembered
that he had used it to tie up the crab; so he went to
the place and found his rope. When his master brought
them their breakfast that day and they had finished
eating, the labourer began to tell how he had lost one
of the yoke ropes and had found it again: and how he
had used it for tying up the crab which he had found.
The master asked whether the crab was alive or dead;
and the labourer said that it was dead.
Then the master said " My man you have done a
very foolish thing ; why did you tie it up alive ? Last
night I could not sleep for its crying. Why did you
imprison the innocent creature until it died?" And he
told them the song it had sung, and forbade them ever
to cause such pain to living creatures. He said " Kill
them outright or you will bring disgrace on me ; when
I heard the lament I thought it was a man, but now I
learn from you that it was a crab. I forbid you ever
to do the like again." And at the time of the Sohrai
festival the farmer called together all his household and
sang them the song and explained its meaning to them,
and the men who heard it remember it to this day.
CVH. THE LEOPARD OUTWITTED.
There was once a man-eating leopard, whose depreda-
tions became so serious, that the whole neighbouring
population decided to have a great hunt and kill it. On
the day fixed a great crowd of beaters collected, and
THE LEOPARD OUTWITTED 313
their drums made a noise as if the world were being
turned upside down.
When the leopard heard the shouting and the drum-
ming, it started to escape to another jungle, and as it
was crossing a road it came on a merchant driving a
packbuUock. The merchant tried to run away, but the
leopard stopped him and said "You must hide me or
I will eat you." The merchant continued to run, think-
ing that if he helped the leopard it would surely eat him
afterwards, but the leopard swore an oath not to eat him
if he would only hide it. So the merchant stopped and
took one of his sacks off the bullock and emptied it
out and tied up the leopard in it, and put it on the
buUqck and then drove on.
When they got out of hearing of the hunters the
leopard asked to be let out; but directly the sack was
untied it said that it would devour the merchant. The
merchant said " You can of course eat me, but let us
consult an arbitratpr as to whether it is fa,ir." The
leopard agreed and as they were near a stream, the
man asked the water whether it was fair that he should
be killed, after he had saved the leopard's life; the
water answered "Yes; you men wash all manner of
filthy things in me; let it eat youl" Then the leopard
wanted to eat him, but the merchant asked leave to
take two more opinions ; so he asked a tree ; but the
tree said "Men cut me down;, let the leopard eat you."
The merchant was very downcast to find everyone
against him and the leopard said, "Well, whom will
you consult next? You have so many friends;" so they
went on and presently met a jackal and the merchant
said that he would appeal to him. The jackal considered
for some time and then said "I don't understand how
you hid the leopard ; let me see how it was done ; and
then I shall be able to decide." The merchant said
"I hid him in this sack." "Really," said the jackal,
314 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
"show me exactly how you did it." So the leopard
got into the sack to show how he was hidden ; then the
jackal asked to be shown how the leopard was carried
out of danger; so the merchant tied up the sack and
put it on the bullock, "Now," said the jackal, "drive
on, and when we come to yonder ravine and I tell you
to put the sack down, do you knock in the head of the
leopard with a stone." And the merchant did so and
when he had killed the leopard, he took it out of the
sack and the jackal ate its body.
CVIIL THE WIND AND THE SUN. ■ i
Once the Wind and the Sun disputed as to which was
the more powerful. And while they were quarreling a
man came by wrapped in a shawl and wearing a big
pagri. And they said "It is no good quarrelling; let
us put our power to the test and see who can deprive
this man of the shawl he has wrapped round him." Then
the Wind asked to be allowed to try first and said
"You will see that I will blow away the blanket in no
time," and the Sun said, "All right, you go first."
So the Wind began to blow hard; but the man only
wrapped his shawl more tightly round him to prevent
its being blown away and fastened it round himself with
his pagri; and though the Wind blew fit to blow the
man away, it could not snatch the shawl from him ; so
it gave up and the Sun had a try; he rose in the sky
and blazed with full force and soon the man began to
drip with sweat ; and he took off his shawl and hung it
on the stick he carried over his shoulder and the Wind
had to admit defeat.
CIX. THE COLDEST SEASON.
One winter day a bear and a tiger began to dispute
as to which is the coldest season of the year ; the bear
THE COLDEST SEASON 315
said July and August, which is the rainy season, and
the tiger said December and January, which is the winter
season. They argued and argued but could not convince
each other ; for the bear with his long coat did not feel
the cold of winter but when he got soaked through in
the rain he felt chilly.
At last they saw a man coming that way and called
on him to decide — "but have a care" — said the tiger —
"if you give an opinion favourable to the bear, I will
eat you ; " and the bear said " If you side with the tiger,
T will eat you." At this the man was terror stricken
but an idea struck him and he made the tiger and the
bear promise not to eat him if he gave a fair decision
and then he said "It is not the winter which is the
coldest, nor the rainy season which is the coldest, but
windy weather; if there is no wind no one feels the cold
much either in the winter or in the rainy season."
And the tiger and the bear said "You are right, we
never thought of that " and they let him go.
PART II.
To a people living in the jungles the wild animals
are much more than animals are to us. To the man
who makes a clearing in the forest, life is largely a
struggle against the beasts of prey and the animals
who graze down the crops. It is but natural that he
should credit them with feelings and intelligence similar
to those of human beings, and that they should seem
to him suitable characters around which to weave stories.
These stories are likely to be particularly current
among a people occupying a forest country, and for
this reason are less likely to appear in collections made
among the inhabitants of towns. It is a strange co-
incidence and presumably only a coincidence that Story
1 1 8, ' The Hyena outwitted ' is known in a precisely
similar form among the Kaffirs of South Africa.
f • ex. THE JACKAL AND THE CROW.
Once upon a time a crow and a jackal became bosom
triends and they agreed that the crow should support
the jackal in the hot weather and the jackal support
the crow in the rainy season. By-and-bye the jackal
got discontented with the arrangement, and vowed that
it would not go on supporting an animal of another
species, but would take some opportunity of eating it up.
But he did not let this appear, and one day he invited
the crow to a feast and gave him as many frogs and
grasshoppers as he could eat and treated him well and
they parted very affectionately.
Then a few days later the crow invited the jackal to
dinner in return; and when the jackal arrived the crow
led him to an ant-hill and showed him a hollow gourd
which he had filled with live mice and said "Here is
your dinner" The jackal could not get his nose into
the hole of the gourd so, to get at the mice, he had
to break it. And the mice ran all over the place and
the jackal jumped about here and there trying to catch
them. At this sight the crow stood and laughed; and
the jackal said to himself "Very well, my friend, you
invited me here to have a laugh at me ; wait till I have
finished with the mice; then it will be your turn."
So when he had caught all the mice he could, he
declared that he had had as much as he could eat and
would like to go and sleep off his meal. As they said
farewell and were salaaming to each other, the jackal
pounced on the crow and ate him up; not a bone or
320 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
a claw was left. Then the jackal began to skip with
jOy and sang: —
" I ate a gourdful of mice
And by the side of the ant-hill
I ate the crow: Hurrah!"
And singing thus he went skipping homewards ; and on
the way he met a fowl and called to it to get out of
the way or he would eat it, — singing: —
" I ate a gourdful of mice
And by the side of the ant-hill
I ate the crow: — Hurrah!"
And as the fowl did not move he ate it up ; then he
skipped on and came to a goat and he sang his verse
and told it to get out of the way and as it did not, he
ate it ; and in the same way he met and killed a sheep
and a cow and he ate the liver and lungs of the cow;
and then he killed a buffalo and ate its liver and lungs ;
and by this time he was as full as he could hold. Then
he came to a pool of water and he called to it to get
out of the way or he would drink it up and as it did
not move, he drank it dry. Then he came to a post
and said "Get out of my way or I will jump over you" —
"I ate a gourdful of mice
And by the side of the ant-hill
I ate the crow — Hurrah! "
And so saying he tried to jump over it ; but he was so
full of what he had eaten and drunk that he leaped
short and fell on the point of the stake and was trans-
fixed, so that he died.
CXL THE TIGER CUB AND THE CALF.
A Tigress and a Cow used to graze in a dense
jungle, and they were both with young. They became
great friends and agreed that they would marry their
THE TIGER CUB AND THE CALF 321
children to each other. In the course of time tiie tigress
gave birth to a she-cub and the cow to a bull-calf.
They kept the young ones in the same place and used
to go and graze together, and then return at the same
time to suckle their young. On their way back they
used to drink at a certain river, the tigress up the
stream and the cow lower down. One day it happened
that the cow got first to the river and drank at the
upper drinking place, and the tigress drank lower down.
And the froth from the cow's mouth floated down the
stream and the tigress tasted it and found it nice, and
this made her think that the flesh of the cow must also
be good; so she resolved to eat the cow one day.
The cow saw what was in the mind of the tigress and
she left some of her milk in a bowl, and said to her
calf: "The tigress has resolved to eat me; watch this
milk and when you see it turn red like blood, you will
know that I have been killed ; " then she went off to
graze with the tigress.
The two youngsters always used to play together very
happily but that day the calf would not play but kept
going to look at the bowl of milk ; and the tigress cub
asked the reason. The calf told her what his mother had
said ; then the tigress cub said that if this happened she
would never suck from her mother again and it would
be better for them both to run away. So the two kept
going to look at the bowl of milk, and about midday
they saw that it had changed to blood and they both
began to weep. Shortly after, the tigress came back,
and flies were clustered round her mouth because of the
blood on it. The tigress told her daughter to come and
suck, but she said that she would wait till the cow came
and then she and the calf could have their meal together
as usual; at this the tigress frowned terribly and the
cub was frightened, so she said, " Very well, mother, I
will suck, but first go and wash your mouth; why are
322 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the flies clustered round it?" So the tigress went ofif
but she did not wash, she only ate some more of the
cow. While she was away the calf and the cub ran off
to another jungle, and when the tigress came back, she
searched for them with horrid roarings and could not
find them, and if she had found them she would have
killed them.
CXII. THE JACKAL AND THE CHICKENS.
Once upon a time a jackal and a hen were great
friends and regarded each other as brother and sister;
and they agreed to have a feast to celebrate their
friendship; so they both brewed rice beer and they
first drank at the jackal's house and then went to the
hen's house; and there they drank so much that the
hen got blind drunk, and while she lay intoxicated the
jackal ate her up. The jackal found the flesh so nice
that he made up his mind to eat the hen's chickens
too ; so the next day he went to their house and found
them all crying "Cheep, cheep," and he asked what
was the matter ; they said that they had lost their
mother; he told them to cheer up and asked where
they slept; they told him 'on the shelf in the wall'.
Then he went away; but the chickens saw that he
meant to come and eat them at night, so they did not
go to sleep on the shelf but filled it with razors and
knives and when the jackal came at night and felt
about the shelf he got badly cut and ran away screaming.
But a few day later he paid another visit to the
chickens, and condoled with them on the loss of their
mother and again asked where they slept, and they
told him, 'in the fireplace.' Directly the jackal was
gone, they filled the stove with live embers and covered
them up with ashes; and went to sleep themselves
inside a drum. At night the jackal came and put his
THE JACKAL AND THE CHICKENS 323
paws into the fireplace; but he only scraped the hot
embers up against his belly and got burnt; this made
him scream and the chickens burst out laughing. The
jackal heard them and said "You have got me burnt;
now I am going to eat you." They said, "Yes, uncle,
but please eat us outside the house ; you did not eat our
mother in her own house ; take us to yonder flat rock."
So the jackal took up the drum but when he got to
the rock he accidentally let it fall and it broke and the
chickens ran away in all directions ; but the chicken that
had been at the bottom of the drum had got covered
with the droppings of the others and could not fly away ;
so the jackal thought "Well it is the will of heaven that
I should have only one chicken ; it is doubtless for the
best!" The chicken said to the jackal, "I see that you
will eat me, but you cannot eat me in this state; wash
me clean first."
So the jackal took the chicken to a pool and washed
it ; then the chicken asked to be allowed to get a little
dry; but the jackal said that if it got dry it would fly
away. "Then," said the chicken, "rub me dry with
your snout and I will myself tell you when I am ready
to be eaten ; " so the jackal rubbed it dry and then
proceeded to eat it; but directly the jackal got it in
his mouth it voided there, so the jackal spat it out and
it flew away.
The jackal thought that it had gone into a hole in a
white ant-hill, but really it had hidden elsewhere ; how-
ever the jackal felt for it in the hole and then tried in
vain to scrape the hole larger; as he could not get
into the hole he determined to sit and wait till hunger
or suffocation forced the chicken to come out. So he sat
and watched, and he sat so long that the white ants ate
off his hind quarters; at last he gave up and went off
to the rice fields to look for fish and crabs. There he
saw an old woman catching fish, and he asked to be
324 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
allowed to help her. So the old woman sat on the bank
and the jackal jumped and twisted about in the water
and presently he caught a potha fish whicth he ate ; but
as the jackal had no hind quarters the fish p Issed through
him none the worse. Soon the jackal caught the same
fish over again, and he laughed at the old woman be-
cause she had caught none. She told him that he was
catching the same fish over and over again, and when
he would not believe her she told him to mark with a
thorn the next one which he caught; he did so and
then found that he really was catching and eating the
same fish over and over again.
At this he was much upset and asked what he should
do. The old woman advised him to go to a cobbler
and get patched up ; so he went and killed a fowl and
took it to a cobbler and offered it to him if he would
put him to rights; so the cobbler sewed on a leather
patch with a long leather tail which rapped on the
ground as the jackal went along. Then the jackal went
to a village to steal fowls and he danced along with
his tail tapping, and sang :
"Now the Moghul cavalry are coming
"And the Koenda Rajas.
"Run away or they will utterly destroy you.''
And when the villagers heard this they all ran away
and the jackal entered the village and killed as many
fowls as he wanted.
A few days later he went again to the village and
frightened away the villagers as before; but one old
woman was too feeble to run away and she hid in a
pig sty, and one fowl that the jackal chased, ran into
this sty and the jackal followed it, and when he saw
the old woman, he told her to catch the fowl for him
or he would knock her teeth out ; but she told him to
catch it himself; so he caught and ate it. Then he
THE JACKAL PUNISHED 325
said to the old woman. Say "Toyo" (jackal) and she
said "Toyo;" then he took a currypounder and knocked
all her teeth out and told her again to say "Toyo;"
but as she had no teeth she said "Hoyo;" this amused
the jackal immensely and he went away laughing.
When the villagers returned, the old woman told
them that it was only a jackal who had attacked the
village, so they decided to kill him; but one man
said " You won't be able to catch him ; let us make an
image of this old woman and cover it with birdlime and
set it up at the end of the village street ; he will stop
and abuse her, and we shall know where he is." So
they did this, and the next morning, when the jackal
came singing along the road, they hid inside their houses.
When the jackal reached the village, he saw the figure
of the old woman with its arms stretched out, and he
said to it, "What are you blocking my road for? get
out of the way; I knocked your teeth out yesterday:
arn't you afraid.'' Get out of the way or I will kick
you out."
As the figure did not move he gave it a kick and
his leg was caught in the birdlime ; then he said, " Let
™e go, you old hag, or I will give you a slap." Then
he gave it a slap and his front paw was stuck fast;
then he slapped at it with his other paw and that stuck ;
then he tried to bite the figure and his jaws got caught
also; and when he was thus helpless the villagers came
out and beat him to death and that was the end of the
jackal.
CXHL THE JACKAL PUNISHED.
Once a hen and a jackal were great friends, and they
decided to have a feast and each brewed beer for the
occasion; the hen brewed with rice, and maize and
millet and the jackal brewed with lizards, locusts, frogs
326 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and fish. And when the brew was ready, they first went
to the jackal's house, but the hen could not touch his
beer, it smelt so bad and the jackal drank it all; then
they went to the hen's house and her beer was very
nice and they both drank till the hen got very drunk
and began to stagger about; and the jackal made up
his mind that the hen must be very nice to eat, as her
beer was so good to drink and when he saw her drunk
he was delighted and sang :
"Fowl, do not graze in the field I
The jackal laughs to see you.
Paddy bird, do not fish in the pond I
You pecked a piece of sedge thinking it was
a frog's leg!
Do not drink rice beer, O fowl!
The jackal laughs to see you.
And so saying he gobbled her up ; and her chickens
cried at the sight. Then the jackal resolved to eat the
chickens also, so he came back the next day, and asked
them where they slept and they said " In the hearth."
But when the jackal had gone, the chickens planned
how they should save their lives.
Their mother had laid an egg and as there was no
one to hatch it now, they said. "Egg, you must lie in
the fireplace and blind the jackal;" and they said to
the. paddy husker, "You must stand by the door and
when the jackal runs out you must knock him down;
and they told the paddy mortar to wait on the roof,
over the door and fall and crush the jackal. So they
put the egg among the hot ashes in the fireplace and
they themselves sat in a cupboard with axes ready;
and when the jackal came he went to the fireplace and
scratched out the ashes; and the egg burst and spirted
into his eyes and blinded him and as he ran out of the
door the paddy husker knocked him over; and as he
crawled away the paddy mortar fell on him from the
THE TIGERS AND THE CAT 337
roof and crushed him; then the chickens ran out and
chopped him to pieces with their axes and revenged
the death of their mother.
CXIV. THE TIGERS AND THE CAT.
In former days tigers and cats were friends and used
to hunt together and share the game they caught; and
they did not eat the game raw but used to cook it as
men do.
One day some tigers and a cat had killed a deer and
they had no fire with which to cook it ; then the tigers
said to the cat "You are small, go and beg a light
from yonder village." But the cat said that he was
afraid to go; however they urged him saying "You
have a thin tail and plump feet; you can bring it in a
trice." So, as they all insisted on his going, he at
last consented ; and said " Well, I will go ; but don't
expect me to be very quick ; if I get a good opportunity
for fetching the fire, I will come back soon." They said
"All right, go and run off" with a small fire-brand and
we will meet you outside the village."
So the cat went off and coming to a house, went
inside to pull a firebrand from the hearth. On the fire
some milk was boiling; and the cat thought "This smells
very nice, I will have a taste of it" and he found it so
nice that he made up his mind to drink it all, before
he took away the fire-brand. But in order to lap the
milk he had to put his feet on the fireplace, and it was
so hot that he burnt his feet and had to get down;
so then he sat down and waited till the fire went out
and the hearth grew cool, and then he lapped up the
milk and ran off with a piece of smouldering wood.
Meanwhile the tigers had got tired of waiting and
had eaten the deer raw ; and they were very angry at
being made to eat raw flesh and swore that they would
328 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
eat the cat too. When they saw the cat bringing the
fire they ran to meet him and abused him and cried
out " You have made us eat raw flesh ; we will eat you
too, dung and all." On hearing this threat the cat ran
back to the village in fear of his life; and the tigers
followed in pursuit ; but when they got near the village,
the village dogs all ran out barking and the tigers were
frightened and turned back and the cat was saved. From
that day tigers and leopards have eaten raw flesh*, and
cats bury their excrement, because of what the tigers
had said.
Every day the tigers went to the village in search of
the cat ; but when the dogs barked they slunk away ; for
the tigers were very frightened at the sight of the dogs'
curly tails ; they thought that the tails were nooses and that
they would be strangled by them. One day one of the
tigers met a jackal and called to him " Nephew, listen
to me; a cat made us eat raw flesh and has escaped
into this village and I want to catch it, but the dogs
come barking at me. I don't mind that, but I am very
frightened of their nooses. Now, you are very like a
dog, cannot you go and tell them not to use their
nooses." The jackal answered, "Uncle, you are quite
mistaken; what you see are their tails, not nooses; they
will not strangle you with them." So the tiger took
courage and the next day went to the village to hunt
for the cat, but he could not find it. And when the
dogs barked he got angry and caught and killed one of
them ; and from that time tigers and leopards eat dogs.
CXV. THE ELEPHANT AND THE ANTS.
In the days of old there was a great deal more jungle
than there is now, and wild elephants were very nume-
rous ; once upon a time a red ant and a black ant were
burrowing in the ground, when a wild elephant appeared
and said " Why are you burrowing here ; I will trample
THE ELEPHANT AND THE ANTS 329
all your work to pieces;" the ants answered "Why do
you talk like this; do not despise us because we are
small; perhaps we are better than you in some ways;"
The elephant said 'Do not talk nonsense: there is
nothing at which you could beat me; I am in all ways
the largest and most powerful animal on the face of
the earth." Then the ants said "Well, let us run a
race and see who will win, unless you win we will not
admit that you are supreme." At this the elephant got
into a rage and shouted; "Well, come we will start at
once," and it set off to run with all its might and when
it got tired it looked down at the ground and there
were two ants. So it started off again and when it
stopped and looked down, there on the ground were two
ants ; so it ran on again, but wherever it stopped it saw
the ants, and at last it ran so far that it dropped down
dead from exhaustion.
Now it is a saying that ants are more numerous in
this world than any other kind of living creature; and
what happened was that the two ants never ran at all,
but stayed where they were ; but whenever the elephant
looked at the ground, it saw some ants running about
and thought that they were the first two, and so ran
itself to death.
This story teaches us not to despise the poor man,
because one day he may have an opportunity to put
us to shame.
From this story of the elephant we should learn this
lesson ; the Creator knows why He made some animals
big and some small and why He made some men
fools; so we should neither bully nor cheat men who
happen to be born stupid.
CXVI. A FOX AND HIS WIFE.
Once upon a time there were a fox and his wife who
lived in a hole with their five little ones. Every evening
330 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the two foxes used to make their way to a bazar to
feed on the scraps thrown away by the bazar people;
and every night on their way home the following
conversation passed between them. The fox would say
to his wife, "Come tell me how much wit you have,"
and she would answer him by, "Only so much as
would fill a small vegetable basket." Then she in her
turn would ask "And how much wit have youf"
"As much as would load twelve buffaloes."
One night as they were on their way home as usual,
the two suddenly found themselves face to face with a
tiger, who greeted them by saying " At last my friends,
I have got you."
At this the fox for all his wit, could not utter a word
but crouched down and shook with fright. Mrs Fox
however was not at all inclined to give way to despair.
She saluted the tiger and said "Ah, uncle, do not eat
us up just now ; I and my husband have a dispute and
we want you to settle it for us." The tiger was mollified
by being addressed by so respectful a name as uncle,
and answered in a gentler voice "Well, my niece, tell
me what is the point and I will decide it for you."
"It is this," went on Mrs. Fox," we have five children
and we wish to divide them between us but we cannot
decide how to do so; I say that I will take three and
leave him two ; while he wants to take three and leave
me two. We came out to look for some man to settle
the dispute but have not met one : and now providenti-
ally you have appeared before us like a god ; no doubt
you will be able to make the division for us." The
tiger reflected that if he managed things well, he would
be able to eat not only the two foxes but their young
ones as well, so he graciously agreed to make the division.
The foxes then invited him to come back with them
to the hole in which they lived, and when they reached
it, Mr. Fox bolted into it saying that he was going to
THE JACKAL AND THE CROCODILES 331
bring out the children. As however he did not come
out again, Mrs. Fox said that it was clear that he could
not manage the children by himself, and she would go
and help; and thereupon proceeded to back into the
hole, keeping her face turned towards the tiger.
Seeing her disappearing the tiger thought to seize
her, but as she kept her eyes on him he could only
say "Hullo, what is the matter? Why are you going
in backwards?" "Oh, uncle," replied Mrs. Fox, "how
could I turn my back on so great a personage as
you?" and with that she disappeared. Presently the
tiger heard the two foxes calling out from inside
" Goodbye, uncle, you can go away now ; we have
arranged how to divide the children ourselves." Then
he saw how he had been fooled and flew into a terrible
rage and tried to squeeze his way into the hole ; but it
was much too small and at last he had to go away
baffled : and so the foxes were saved by Mrs. Fox's wit.
CXVII. THE JACKAL AND THE CROCODILES.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had an only
son. As the boy grew up his father sent him to a
school to learn to read and write. One day on his way
back from school, the boy sat down by the road side
to rest, and placed his school books on the ground by
his side. Suddenly a jackal came along and snatched
up the bundle of books and ran away with it ; and
though the boy ran after it, he failed to catch the jackal
and had to go and tell his father how he had lost his
school books. The Raja told him not to mind, as it
was a very good omen and meant that he would grow
up as clever as a jackal; and so the matter ended as
far as the boy was concerned ; and his father bought
him a new set of books.
But the jackal ran off to the side of a tank and
332 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
taking a book from the bundle sat down and began to
read it aloud. He kept on saying over and over again
"Ibor, obor, iakoro sotro" " Ibor obor iakoro sotro."
Hearing the noise a crocodile who lived in the tank
poked his head out of the water and began "Well,
nephew, what is that you are repeating?" "I am only
reading a book, uncle."
"What, nephew, do you know how to read and write?"
" Yes, certainly I do," answered the jackal.
"In that case," returned the crocodile "would you
mind teaching my five children?" The jackal was quite
willing to be their master, but a difficulty struck the
crocodile; the jackal lived on high land, and the little
crocodiles could not go so far from the water. The
jackal at once suggested a way out of the difficulty:
"Let the crocodile dig a little pool near where the jackal
lived and put the children into it. Then the jackal could
take the little crocodiles out of it when he was giving
them their lessons and put them back again when they
had finished. So it was arranged, and in two or three
days the crocodile dug the pool and the jackal began
the lessons.
Each morning the jackal took the five little croc-
odiles out of the water and told them to repeat aftfir
him what he said, and then he began " Ibor obor iakoro
sotro" Ibor obor iakoro sotro." But try as they might
the little crocodiles could not pronounce the words
properly ; then the jackal lost his temper and cuffed them
soundly. In spite of this they still showed no signs of
improvement, till at last the jackal made up his mind
that he could not go on with such unsatisfactory pupils,
and that the best thing he could do would be to eat
them up one at a time. So the next morning he
addressed the little crocodiles, "I see that you can't
learn, when I take you in class all together: in future
I will have you up one at a time and teach you like
THE JACKAL AND THE CROCODILES 333
that." So he took one out of the water and began to
teach it; but the little crocodile could not pronounce
its words properly, so in a very short time the jackal
got angry and gobbled it up. The next day he took out
another, which soon met the same fate as its brother;
and so things went on till the jackal had eaten four out
of the five.
When there was only one left, the crocodile came to
see how the lessons were getting on. The sight of him
put the jackal in a terrible fright; but he answered the
crocodile that the children were making very fair progress.
"Well, I want to see them. Come along and let us
have a look at them."
This was awkward for the jackal, but his wits did not
desert him ; he ran on ahead to the pool and going
into the water, caught the one little crocodile which
remained^ and held it up, saying "See here is one."
Then he popped it under the water and brought it up
again and said "See, here's another" and this he did
five times and persuaded the crocodile that he had seen
his five children.
The crocodile pretended to be satisfied but he was
not quite easy in his mind and would have preferred
to see all the five little ones at once. However, he
said nothing, but made up his mind to watch the
jackal; so the next day he hid himself and waited to
see what happened- He saw the jackal take the little
crocodile out of the water and begin the lesson — " Ibor
obor iakoro." Then when the unfortunate pupil still
failed to pronounce the words, the jackal began to give
it cuffs and blows. At this sight the crocodile ran
forward and caught the jackal, crying out "Show me
my other four little ones ; is this the way you treat my
children?" The jackal had no answer to give and the
crocodile soon put an end to his life and took back his
one remaining child to the tank where he lived.
334 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CXVIIL THE BULLFROG AND THE CRAB.
There was a Raja who had no head and there was a
Tiger who had no tail. One day they met in a nullah.
■' Here's a fine dinner for me " said the Tiger. " Here's
a fine dinner for mel" said the Raja. At this retort
the Tiger's courage oozed away; and he did not dare
to go any nearer; but he called out "Well, if I am to
be your dinner, come and catch me :" and the Raja
called out "If I am to be your dinner, come and catch
me." So they stood challenging each other, but neither
took a step forward. Then the Tiger became abusive
and called out, " What have you done with your head f
The Raja retorted " What is a tiger without a tail ? You
also are short of a member. I may have no head but
I have more legs than you." The Tiger could think of
no retort to make to this and so said " Come, don't let
us quarrel any more ; let us be friends ; I live near here,
where do you live?
"My home is also near here."
"Then we are neighbours: there is no reason why
we should be enemies."
"Who knows what you are at?" answered the Raja:
" for you are pretending that you cannot see aright, but
it is quite true that we are neighbours." " You are
right," said the other, "I admit that I did wrong, and
I bow down before you." So they saluted each other
and the Tiger said "Let's have a song to show what
good friends we are: and he sang (to the rice planting tune) :
"The Frog King and the Frog Queen
Sat at their front door.
The Frog King's marriage is going on:
Look, my master I
The Frog King and the Frog Queen 1
The Frog King's mariage is going on."
THE HYAENA OUTWITTED 335
CXIX. THE HYAENA OUTWITTED.
Once upon a time there was a great tiger who lived
in a forest; and all the other animals that lived in the
forest treated him as their Raja, down to the very birds.
They all felt safe under his protection, because he was
so much feared that no men dared hunt in that forest.
One day it happened that this Raja tiger killed a man
and made such a enormous meal on the flesh, that he
got very bad indigestion. The pain grew worse and
worse, till he felt sure that his last hour was come.
In his agony he sent for a hyaena and offered to make
him his dewan, if only he would call all the other animals
of the forest to come and pay a farewell visit to their lord.
The hyaena readily agreed but thought it would be better
to send another messenger, while he stayed by the tiger
to see that all the animals duly presented themselves.
Just then a crow flew overhead; so they called him and
deputed him to summon all the animals.
The crow flew off and in a short time all the animals
assembled before the tiger and paid their respects to him
and expressed wishes for his speedy recovery ;— all except
the jackals. They had been summoned along with the
others; but somehow they paid no attention and only
remembered about it in the afternoon. Then they were
very frightened as to what would be the consequence
of their remissness ; but one chief jackal stood up and
told them not to fear, as he would contrive a way of
getting the better of the hyaena. There was nothing
else to be done, so they had to put what trust they
could in their chief and follow him to the Tiger.
On his way the chief jackal picked up a few roots,
and took them with him. When they reached the place
where the suffering monarch lay, the hyaena at once
began to abuse them for being late, and the Tige^.
336 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
also angrily asked why they had not come before;
then the chief jackal began humbly " O Maharaja, we
were duly summoned; your messenger is not to blame;
but we reflected that it was useless merely to go and
look at you when you were so ill: that could do
you no good; so we bestirred ourselves to try and
find some medicine that would cure you. We have
searched the length and breadth of the jungle and have
found all that is necessary, except one thing and that
we have failed to find." " Tell me what it is," said the
hyaena," and I will at once despatch all these animals
to look for it and it will surely be found." " Yes,"
echoed the tiger, "what is it?" -'Maharaja," said the
jackal, "when you take these medicines, you must lie
down on the fresh skin of a hyaena, which has been
flayed alive; but the only hyaena we can find in the
forest is your dezvan," "The world can well bear the
loss of one hyaena," said the Tiger: "take him and skin
him." At these words all the animals set upon the
hyaena and flayed him alive ; and the tiger lay down on
the skin and took the medicines brought by the jackal ;
and as he was not seriously ill, his pain soon began to
pass away.
" That is a lesson to the hyaena not to scold us and
get us into trouble," said the jackal, as he went home.
CXX. THE CROW AND THE EGRET.
A CROW and a white egret once made their nests in
the same tree, and when the nestlings began to grow up
the crow saw how pretty and white the young egrets
were, and thought them much nicer than her own black
young ones. So one day when the egret was away, the
crow changed the nestUngs and brought the little white
egrets to her own nest. When the mother egret returned
and found the ugly little black crows in her own nest, it
THE CROW AND THE EGRET 337
did not take her long to see what had happened and she
at once taxed the crow with the theft. The crow denied
all knowledge of the matter and a fine quarrel ensued.
Quarrelling led to nothing and they agreed to refer the
dispute to the decision of a money-lender, whose house
stood by the tree in which the two nests were. The
crow, as the less shy of the two, flew down and asked
the money-lender to come out and settle their dispute.
The first question the money-lender asked was what they
were going to give him. The egret promised to catch
him a fine rohu fish, which was what she was accustomed
to eat, but the crow said that she would give him a golden
necklace. The money-lender said that the fees must be
brought first before he heard the case, so the egret flew
off and caught a big fish, but the crow went to where
a Raja was bathing and carried off the gold chain which
the Raja had left on the bank of the river. The money-
lender then gave his decision, which was in favour of the
party who had given him the most valuable present ; he
decided that the young birds must stay where they were.
"But," protested the egret "how have my white nestlings
become black?" "That is quite natural" answered the
money-lender, " a white cow may have a black or brown
calf: why should not you have black young ones?"
And so saying he drove them away.
The poor egret was not at all content with this unjust
decision, and was about to renew the quarrel, when a
jackal came racing by; it had just made its escape
from some hunters. " Where are you off to so fast,
uncle?" called out the egret. "I am in arrears with
my rent and am hurrying to pay it to the Raja,"
answered the jackal. " Stay and listen to my grievance,"
begged the egret, and she told the jackal all that had
happened and how the money-lender had let himself
be bribed by the gold necklace. The jackal was very
indignant, " A man who could give a decision like that
22
338 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
would call a buffalo, a bullock or a pig, a sheep. It is
no decision at all ; I cannot stop now, but I will come
back to-morrow and decide the matter for you and before
doing so, I will stuff the mouth of that unjust judge with
filth." So saying the jackal hurried off.
The money-lender heard all that passed and was filled
with shame at having earned the contempt of the jackal ;
he feared more disgrace on the morrow, so he at once
called the crow and made her return the egret's nestlings,
and the next morning when the jackal came back it found
that everything had been settled to the satisfaction of
the egret.
CXXL THE JACKAL AND THE HARE.
A JACKAL and a hare were sworn friends. One day
they planned to have a dinner of rice cooked with milk.
So the hare crouched down under a bush which grew by
the side of a road leading to a busy market; and the
jackal stayed watching a little way off. Presently some
men came along, taking rice to sell at the market. When
they saw the hare by the side of the road, they put down
their baskets of rice and ran to catch the hare. He led
them a long chase, and then escaped. Meanwhile the
jackal carried off as much of the unguarded rice as he
wanted. By the same trick they got hold of milk, and
firewood, and a cooking pot, and some leaf plates. Thus
they had everything necessary for the meal except fire.
So the jackal ran off to a village and went to the house
of a poor old woman who was pounding dried plum
fruit into meal, and asked her for a light " Go into the
house and take a brand from the fire yourself" said the
old woman: "No" said the jackal "you go and get it;
and I will pound your meal for you, while you are
away." So the old woman went into the house; and
while she was away the jackal put filth into the mortar
THE BRAVE JACKAL 339
and covered it up with meal. Then he took away the
lighted brand, and after he had gone the old woman
found that all her meal was spoilt.
Then the jackal cooked their rice and milk and when
it was ready, they began to discuss which should first
go and bathe, before they began to eat. At last the
jackal went off; he hurried over his bath and came back
as quickly as possible. Then the hare went, and he spent
a long time having a thorough bath. While the hare
was away, the jackal ate as much of the rice as he
wanted and then filled the pot with filth and covered
it over with rice. When the hare came back, they
debated which should help the rice. At last they agreed
that the hare should do so ; but when the hare had taken
out a little rice he found the pot full of filth. " So it is
for this that I took all the trouble to get the provisions
for our meal" cried the hare; and threw the contents of
the pot over the jackal and drove him away.
The jackal went off and made a drum, and every day
he sat in the sun beneath a bank and played the drum.
The hare heard the sound and one day he went to the
jackal and asked to be allowed to play the drum. The
jackal handed it over but the hare beat it and shook
it so vigorously that at last it was smashed to pieces.
Then the hare ran away.
CXXII. THE BRAVE JACKAL.
Once upon a time a he-goat ran away for fear of
being slaughtered and took refuge in a leopard's cave.
When the leopard came back to the cave the goat
called out "Hum Pakpak," and the leopard ran away
in a fright. Presently it met a jackal and called out
"Ahl my sister's son, some fearful animal has occupied
my house 1" "What is it like, uncle?" asked the jackal
" It has a wisp of hemp tied to its chin," answered the
340 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
leopard: "I am not afraid, uncle," boasted the jackal,
"I have eaten many animals like that, bones and all."
So they tied their tails together and went back to the
leopard's cave. When the two drew near the goat stood
up : and the leopard said " This morning he called out
something dreadful at me." At this they both fled, and
in their struggles to separate all the hair on the jackal's
tail was scraped ofif and the jackal called out "Alas,
alas! Uncle, you have scraped off all my skin!"
CXXIIL THE JACKAL AND THE LEOPARDS.
Once upon a time a leopard and a leopardess were
living with their cubs ; and when the parents were away
a jackal used to go to the cubs and say "If you won't
pay up the paddy you owe, give me something on
account." And the cubs gave him all the meat which
their parents had brought; and as this happened every
day the cubs began to starve. The leopard asked why
they looked so thin although he brought them lots of
game and the cubs explained that they had to give up
all their food to the jackal from whom he had borrowed
paddy. So the leopard lay in wait and when the jackal
came again to beg of the cubs he chased him. The
jackal ran away and hid in a crack in the ground; the
leopard tried to follow and got stuck in the crack and
was squeezed to death. The jackal came out and kicked
the dead body, crying " I see you lying in wait for me."
Now the jackal wore silk shoes and a silk dhoti and
he went back to the leopard's family and asked who
would look after them now the leopard was dead. They
said that they would live with him ; so the jackal stayed
there and they all went hunting deer. The jackal lay in
wait and the leopards drove the game to him. But
when the deer came out, the jackal was too frightened to
attack them and climbed to the top of an ant-hill to
THE JACKAL AND THE LEOPARDS 341
be out of the way. So when the leopards came up they
found that the jackal had killed nothing. But the jackal
only complained that they had not driven the deer in
the right direction. So the next day the leopardess lay
in wait and the jackal and the cubs beat the jungle;
when they came up they found that the leopardess had
killed a fine deer. " Now," said the jackal " let me first
offer the game as a sacrifice to the spirit of our dead
leopard; so saying he tried to bite a hole in the deer
but the skin was too tough. So he made the leopardess
tear the skin and then he pushed inside the carcase and
ate up all the entrails. When he had had as much as
he could eat he came out and let the leopards begin
their meal.
Another day they wished to cross a flooded river.
The young leopards offered to carry the jackal over on
their shoulders but the jackal was too proud to allow
this. So the leopards all jumped across the stream safely
but when the jackal tried he fell into the middle of the
water and was carried away down stream. Lower down
a crocodile was lying on the bank sunning itself "Pull
me out, pull me outl" called the jackal "and I will
bring you some fat venison." So the crocodile pulled
him out. " Now open your mouth and shut your
eyes" said the jackal and when the crocodile obeyed
he popped a large stone into its jaws and ran away.
This made the crocodile very angry and it vowed to
be revenged.
The jackal used to go every day to a certain tank to
drink: and to reach the water he used to sit on the
root of an arjun tree which projected from the bank.
The crocodile observed this habit and one day lay in
wait under the water by the arjun tree and when the
jackal came to drink caught him by the leg. The jackal
did not lose his presence of mind but called out " What
a fool of a crocodile to catch hold of the root of the
342 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
tree instead of my leg." On hearing this the crocodile
let go its hold and the jackal laughed and ran away.
Every day the jackal used to lie in the sun on the
top of a stack of straw. The crocodile found this out
and buried itself in the straw and waited for the jackal.
That day it happened that the jackal found a sheep-
bell and tied it round his neck so that it tinkled as he
ran. When it heard the bell the crocodile said "What
a bother! I am waiting for the jackal and here comes
a sheep tinkling its bell." The jackal heard the crocodile's
exclamation and so detected the trick ; he at once went
and fetched a light and set fire to the heap of straw
and the crocodile was burnt to death.
PART III.
Some authorities are inclined to search too deep for
the origin of folklore stories; every story is a sun myth
or enshrines some forgotten historical event; they do
not admit that stories are told from sheer love of story
telling.
The anecdotes in this part do not lend themselves to
any such abstruse theories. They are anecdotes for the
most part of Santal social Ufe. Some e. g. 123, 125, 127
turn on those verbal quibbles and metaphors of which
the Santals are so fond. He will for instance call a
mother a milk tree and enquiring of the sex of a new
born child will ask whether it is a carrier on the shoulder
(a boy) or on the head (a girl).
133 and 134 illustrate the misunderstandings which
may occur owing to the custom that a wife may not
mention her husband's names, nor a man speak familiarly
to the wife of his younger brother. — Story 128 is found
elsewhere in Hidia.
CXXIV. THE FOOL AND HIS DINNER.
A man once went to visit his mother-in-law and for
dinner they gave him rice with a relish made of young
bamboo shoots. The man liked it extremely and thought
that it was meat, but he saw no pieces of meat ; so he
asked his mother-in-law what it was made of; and
behind him was a door made of bamboos : so the mother-
in-law said, "I have cooked that which it behind you;"
and he looked round and saw the door ; so he resolved
to carry off the door, as it made such good eating, and
in the middle of the night he took it off the hinges and
ran away with it. In the morning the door was missed
and the mother-in-law guessed what had happened and
had a hearty laugh.
Meanwhile the man went home with the door and
chopped it up and gave the pieces to his wife to
cook; the wife said that it was useless to cook dry
chips but he insisted and said that her mother had
made a beautiful dish of them. So they were cooked
and the man sat down to eat; but they were all hard
and tasteless; then he scolded his wife and she told
him to cook them himself if he was not pleased; so
he cooked some himself and the result was the same ;
and his wife laughed at him and when the villagers
heard of it they nicknamed him "Silly", and used to
call the name after him when they met him.
CXXV. THE STINGY DAUGHTER.
Once a man went to visit his married daughter: he
intended to arrive in time for dinner ; so though he passed
some edible herbs on the way he did not stop to eat them.
346 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
When he arrived he was duly welcomed and after
some conversation he told his daughter that he must
return the same day; she said "All right, but wait till
it gets hot.'" (The father understood this to be a me-
taphorical way of saying " Wait till the dinner is cooked.)
But the daughter was determined not to cook the rice
while her father was there: so they sat talking and
when the sun was high the daughter went into the yard
and felt the ground with her foot and finding it scorching
she said "Now father, it is time for you to be going:
it has got hot." Then the old man understood that she
was not going to give him his dinner. So he took his
stick and got up to go.
Now the son-in-law was a great hunter and that day
he had killed and brought home a peacock; as he was
leaving, the father said "My daughter, if your husband
ever brings home a peacock I advise you to cook it
with mowah oil cake; that makes it taste very nice."
So directly her father had gone, the woman set to work
and cooked the peacock with mowah oil cake ; but when
her husband and children began to eat it they found it
horribly bitter and she herself tasted it and found it
uneatable ; then she told them that her father had made
fun of her and made her spoil all the meat. Her
husband asked whether she had cooked rice for her
father; and when she said "No" he said that this was
the way in which he had punished her; he had had
nothing to eat and so he had prevented their having any
either ; she should entertain all visitors and especially her
father. So they threw away the meat and had no dinner.
CXXVL THE BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS DANCE.
There was once a Santal who owed money to a
money-lender: the lender went to dun him every day
but as he had nothing to pay with he used to hide in
the jungle and as he had no warm clothes he used to
THE DEAF FAMILY 347
light a fire to warm himself by ; and when the fire was
low he would sit near it and when it blazed up he would
move back from it. When the money-lender asked the
man's wife where he was, she always replied "He is
dancing the "Backwards and Forwards" dance." The
money-lender got curious about this; and said that he
would like to learn the dance. So one evening the Santal
met him and offered to teach him the dance but, he said
he must be paid and what would the money-lender give ?
The money-lender said that he would give any thing that
was asked ; so the Santal called two witnesses and before
them the money-lender promised that if the Santal taught
him the dance he would let him off his debt.
The next morning the Santal took the money-lender
to the jungle and told him to take off his clothes as
they would dance with only loin cloths on; then he lit
a heap of straw and they sat by it warming themselves ;
and he purposely made only a small fire at first. Then
the money-lender asked when they were going to begin
to dance but the Santal said " Let us warm ourselves
first, I am very cold," so saying he piled on more straw
and as the fire blazed up they moved away from it ; and
when it sank they drew nearer again. While this was
going on the two witnesses came up and the money-
lender began to object that he was not being taught to
dance; but the Santal said, "What more do you want;
don't you keep moving backwards and forwards in front
of the fire? This is the "Backwards and Forwards"
dance." Seeing how he had been tricked the mony-
lender was much upset and he appealed to the witnesses,
but they decided against him ; and he went home crying
and lost his money.
CXXVn. THE DEAF FAMILY.
Formerly Santals were very stupid and much afraid
of Hindus ; and once a Santal was ploughing at a place
348 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
where two roads met and a Hindu came along and asked
him, in Hindi, where the two roads went to; now the
Santal did not understand Hindi and was also deaf and
he thought that the Hindu said "These two bullocks
are mine," — and he answered "When did I take your
bullocks?" The Hindu sat down and repeated his ques-
tion; but the Santal did not understand and continued
to assert that the bullocks were his and were named
Rice eater and Jaituk *) and had formed part of his wife's
dowry; the Hindu kept on asking about the roads and
at last the Santal got frightened and thought " perhaps
my father-in-law took the bullocks from this man and
at any rate he will beat me and take them by force";
so he unyoked his bullocks and handed them over to
the stranger; and the Hindu when he found out what
was meant went off with them as fast as he could.
Soon after the Santal's mother brought him out his
dinner and he told her what had happened about the
bullocks! And she also was deaf and thought that he
was complaining that the rice had no salt in it ; so she
answered, " Your wife gave it to me like this ; I cannot
say whether she put salt into it; come, eat it up."
After he had eaten his dinner the old woman took the
dishes home ; and she found her husband cutting out a
rice pounder; and she told him how their son had
scolded her because there was no salt in the rice; and
the husband was also deaf and he thought that she
wanted to know what he was making and he answered
crossly "It may be a rice pounder and it may be a
rice mortar." And as often as she repeated her story
he made this answer and told her not to worry him.
Then she went to her daughter-in-law who was also deaf
and sat spinning in the verandah; and she scolded her
for not putting salt in the rice; and she answered
*) Jaituk is a bullock given to a girl by her parents at the
time of her marriage.
THE FATHER-IN.LAW'S VISIT 349
"Who knows what I am spinning; the thread may be
all knotty, but still I reel it up." And this is the end
of the story. Thus the man lost his bullocks through
cross questions and crooked answers; and as the whole
family talked like that they soon became poor.
CXXVIII. THE FATHER-IN-LAW'S VISIT.
A man once went to visit his married daughter in the
month of October and he went round the fields with
his son-in-law to see how his crop was growing. At
each rice field they came to, the father-in-law said " You
have not dammed up the outlets" and the son-in-law
said " Yes, I have ; the water is standing in the fields
all right," and could not understand what the old man
meant. The next day they both set off to visit some
friends at a distance ; and the son-in-law carried his shoes
in his hand except when they came to a river when he
always put them on; and when they were going along
in the sun he carried his umbrella under his arm, but
when they came to any shady trees he put it up ; and
he did the same on the way back. The old man was
very astounded at this but made no remark. On reaching
the house however he told his daughter that he was
sorry that her husband was a mad man and told her
what had happened. His daughter said, " No, father, he
is not mad : he has a very good reason ; he does not
wear his shoes on dry ground because he can see where
he is going ; but in a river you cannot see what is under-
foot; there may be sharp stones or thorns and so he
puts on his shoes then; and he puts up his umbrella
under trees lest falling branches should hit him or the
droppings of birds fall on him, but in the open he can
see that there is nothing to hurt him."
Her father admitted that these were good reasons and
he had been foolish not to understand them; he then
took his leave.
350 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
And in the following January he visited them again ;
and when he saw their stock of rice he asked how
much they had, and the son-in-law said that there was
only what he saw. "But," said the old man, "When
I saw your fields you had a very fine crop coming on."
"The crop was good," answered the son-in-law "but I
owed rice to the money-lender and I have had to pay
that back and I have had to pay my rent and this is
all that I have left." "Ahl" said the father-in-law,
"when I saw your fields I told you that you had not
dammed up the outlets ; by outlets I meant these drains ;
as water flows away through an outlet so has your
wealth flowed away to money-lenders and landlords; is
not this so?" And the son-in-law admitted that he was
right and that his words had had a meaning.
CXXIX. RAMAI AND SOMAL
Once two poor men named Ramai and Somai came
to a village and took some waste land from the headman,
and ploughed it and sowed millet ; and their plough was
only drawn by cows and their ploughshare was very
small, what is called a " stumpy share ; " and when they
had sowed a little the rains came on; and Somai gave
up cultivation and took to fishing and for a time he
made very good profits by catching and selling fi^h;
and he did not trouble even to reap the millet he had
sown; he laughed at Ramai who was toiling away
clearing more land and sowing maize and rice. He used
to go and look at him and tell him that he would
never get a crop while he had nothing better than a
"stumpy" plough; it would probably break to pieces
one day and then he would be helpless; he had much
better take to fishing which gave quick and easy returns.
Ramai made no answer, but when the rains were over
there was no more fishing to be done; and Somai was
THE TWO BROTHERS 351
left to starve and had to go from village to village
begging. But Ramai reaped his millet and lived on that
till his maize was ripe and then his maize supported
him until his rice was ripe and he always had plenty
to eat ; and to show his despite for Somai, after he had
had a good dinner, he would come out in front of his
house and call out "What of the stumpy share now?"
Every day after eating he would come out and say
"At first I worked hard and suffered hunger but now
I am eating in happiness; and you were happy then
but now you are starving'."
CXXX. THE TWO BROTHERS.
There were once two brothers who were constantly
quarrelling and one afternoon after a heated quarrel the
younger brother asked the villagers to come and judge
between them. The villagers agreed to meet the next
morning. At cockcrow the next day the elder brother
went to the other's house and woke him up and said
"Brother, this is a bad business; you have called in
the villagers and they will certainly fine us both for
quarrelling; it would be much better for us to save the
money and spend it on a pig ; then we and our families
could have a feast." " I quite agree," said the younger
brother, " but now I have summoned the villagers, what
can be done? If I merely tell them to go away, they
will never come again when I summon them."
The elder brother said, "I have a plan; when they
come they will ask how the quarrel began and what
abusive words I used; and then you must tell them
that that is a point which they have to decide; and
then they will be able to do nothing and will go away."
The younger brother agreed to this and when the
villagers came and asked what the quarrel was about
he said, "Don't you know what the quarrel was? That
332 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
was the very matter I wanted you to decide; if you
don't know, how can you judge about it?" And this
answer he repeated to all their questioning; then they
got angry and said that he was mocking them; and
they declined to give any decision, but said that the
brothers must give them dinner as they had detained
them so long; but the brothers flatly declined to do so
as no decision had been given, and the villagers went
away grumbling, while the brothers bought a pig with
the money they had saved and had a jolly feast and as
they ate the elder brother said : " See what a good
plan mine was; but for it we should now have been
feasting others at our expense."
CXXXL THE THREE FOOLS.
Once upon a time three men were sitting at the foot
of a tamarind tree and a stranger came up to them
with a bunch of plantains on his shoulder and he put
the plantains on the ground in front of them and bowed
and went away. Thereupon the three men began to
quarrel as to who was to have the plantains; each said
that they were his because it was to him that the man
had bowed. So they started calling each other "Fool"
and after quarrelling for some time one said "Well,
yes, I admit that I am a great fool" and the other
two asked why he thought himself a fool and he said
"Well one day my wife went to the jungle with the
other village women to get firewood and left our baby
in my charge; as she was a long time coming back the
child became hungry and began to cry; I walked him
about but he would not stop crying; I tried to feed
him with rice and with rice water and with Gur and
with cow's milk but he would not eat or stop crying;
I was in despair when his mother came back and took
him up and gave him the breast and the child was
quiet at once.
THE CURE FOR LAZINESS 353
Seeing this I said to my wife "Human milk must be
sweeter than anything else." My wife said "Who can
say whether it is nice; we all drink it when we are
infants; but when we grow up we cannot say what it
is like." Then I said that I would try what it was like
and I sucked her breast and found that it was much
sweeter than cow's milk; after that I formed the habit
and used to drink her milk every day; and as I left
none for the child it died soon afterwards of starvation ;
this shows what a fool I am."
Then one of the other men said "But I am a
bigger Tool than you." And they asked him in what
way ; and he said " I was married and was very much
in love with my wife; once when she had gone on a
visit to her father's I went to fetch her home; and she
was got up in all her finery, with her hair well dressed
and vermilion on her forehead and red arta on her feet.
On our way home it began to rain and we took shelter
in a village; and when the shower was over we went
on; and we came to a river which was in flood from
the rain; the water was up to a man's armpits and I
decided to carry my wife across so that the arta on
her feet might not get washed off. So I took her on
my shoulder and to prevent her feet getting wet I held
her feet uppermost and as her head was under water
when I got across I found that she had been drowned ;
and if I had not been such a fool she would not have
been killed."
Then the third man said " And I also am a fool.
I had quarrelled with my own family so I lived with
my wife in a house alone at the end of the village
and we had no children. Now I was very fond of
smoking; and one night I wanted a light for my
hookah but there was none in the house ; so I started
to go and ask for a light from some neighbour ; but as
it was very dark I did not like to leave my wife all
23
354 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
alone: nor did I like to send her out alone to ask for
the light ; so at last I took my hookah in my hand and
set my wife astride on my shoulder and went round
from house to house like that, asking for a light; and
all the villagers laughed like anything; so I am a fool."
Then they agreed that they were all three fools and
had better divide the plantains equally among them and
go home; and that is what they did,
CXXXIL THE CURE FOR LAZINESS.
There was once a man who lived happily with his
wife, but she was very lazy; when work in the fields
was at its height she would pretend to be ill. In June
and July, she would begin to moan as if in pain, and
when every one else had gone off to work she would
eat any rice that they had left over ; or if there were
none, would cook some for herself; Her father-in-law
decided to call in some q/kas to examine her and if
they could not cure her, then to send her back to her
father: so he called in two oJAas and told them to do
their best, as he did not want the woman's relations to
complain that she had not been properly treated.
So the first oj'Aa felt her pulse and smiled and said
nothing, and the second oj/ia felt her pulse and smiled
and said nothing, and when the father-in-law asked them
if they knew what was the matter, they answered that the
illness was very serious and medicines must be applied ; the
father-in-law said " Yes ; but you must get the medicines
or tell me exactly what is wanted and I will arrange
for it;" this conversation took place before the woman ;
the oj'kas said "Very well, we will do what you want
but before applying the medicine we shall have to do
some incantations;" the father-in-law answered "Do
whatever is necessary to make a good job of it. Don't
spare anything; try and get everything ready by to-
THE CURE FOR LAZINESS 355
morrow: for we are in great difficulty; I do not like
to leave the patient alone in the house and yet I cannot
spare anyone to look after her; " the ojhas promised and
got up and went out with the father-in-law, and in the
village street they told him that laziness was all that
was the matter with the woman, but that they knew a
medicine which would cure her; so they went to the
jungle and dug up two very big tubers of the tirra
plant, as big as pumpkins, and in the evening they went
to the man's house and told him that they had found
the medicine, and that the whole household was to
come to the cross roads at the end of the village very
early the next morning with the patient and they would
exorcise the disease and apply remedies.
At cockcrow the next morning the two ojhas brought
the two tubers and put them down at the end of the
village street, and then went to the house where the
sick woman lived and awoke the inmates, and they
borrowed a pot of water and some vermilion and an
old winnowing fan and then they all went to the place
where the tubers had been left, and the ojhas made the
patient sit on the winnowing fan facing the east and
painted her with vermilion ; then they waved pig's dung
round her head and tied the two tubers round her neck
and told her to walk up and down the village street
three times; and that would remove the spell that was
on her. So the woman began to walk up the village
street and every one laughed at her and the children
ran after her and smacked her and jumped and shouted
for joy and the ojhas called out to her " You must not
take off the tubers until you are cured."
The woman walked up and down twice, but then she
was so ashamed at being laughed at that she threw
away the tubers and ran off home ; then they all laughed
the more ; and followed her to the house, and the ojhas
asked whether she was cured that she had taken ofif the
356 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
remedies they had applied ; she only smiled in answer
and they told her to take care because if she ever got
ill again they would apply the same remedy; but from
that day the woman completely recovered and did her
fair share of all the work.
CXXXIII. THE BRAHMAN'S POWERS.
A long time ago a Brahman came from the west and
did many wonders to the astonishment of those who
saw him. He came to a certain village and At first put
up in an old bamboo hut; there he sat motionless for
three or four days and so far as anyone could see ate
arid drank nothing. The villagers said that he must eat
during the night, so four men arranged to watch him
continuously; two by day and two by night ; but though
they watched they could not detect him eating or drink-
ing. Then the villagers collected and began to question
him and as his answers seemed worthy of credit they
began to bring him offerings of milk; one day'he asked
to be supplied with coolies that he might rebuild the
hut in which he had taken up his abode; so coolies
were brought and he made them collect bricks and
prepare mortar and at the end of the day's woik Utiey
asked to be paid; then the Brahman wrapped himself
in his cloth and repeated some max/ras, wheteupon pice
fell tinkling down from his body and with them he paid
the coolies; and so it was every day until the house
was finished. All this was a source of great wonder to
those who saw it.
CXXXIV. RAM'S WIFE.
It is a custom among us Santals that husband and
wife do not mention each other's names; and even if
a husband sometimes mentions his wife's name in a case
of urgent necessity, the wife will never speak h«r hus-
band's; in the same way a man may not mention the
PALO
357
name of his younger brother's wife or of his wife's elder
sister; women again may not use the name of their
younger sister's husband or their husband's elder brother.
Our forefathers have said that if any one breaks this
rule his children will be born deaf or dumb ; we believe
this and fear to break through the custom.
There was once a man named Ram who was plough-
ing his field ; when he got to the end he found that he
had not brought the seed with him; so he called out
to his wife, pretending however that he was speaking
to his daughter "Seed, daughter, seedl" And she
called back "What do you want it for? Are you going
to sow it? (eram = will you sow) and every time he
called, she answered "Eram?" At this he lost his temper
and ran up to the house and asked what she meant by
speaking his name, when he told her to bring out the
seed for sowing; and thereupon he proceeded to give
her a good thrashing. His wife said to him "Your
name is the same as the word for 'sow/ it is a very
fine name you have got." At this Ram laughed and
asked how he could help having the name which his
father and mother had given him. At this she giggled.
"Then why are you hurt by it? You had better in
future take out the seed corn with you and then you
won't have to call to me ; if you do I shall answer you
as I did to-day."
To the present day people do not use the forbidden
words; or if compelled to they spit on the ground first;,
even Christian converts do not like to infringe the rule
if many people are present and usually speak of a
person with a forbidden name as the father, or mother
of such and such a child.
CXXXV. PALO.
There was once a man named Dhuju, and he had
sons named Ret Mongla, Saru Sama and Chapat champa;
358 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
and their wives were named Chibo, Porbet and Palo.
One rainy season the faniily was busy with the plough-
ing : Ret Mongla used to take the plough cattle out to get
some grazing before the sun rose ; and his two brothers
took the ploughs to the fields a little later and the old
father used to look on and tell them what to do. It
was their practice when they wanted to attract each
other's attention to call out: "Hoi" and not "Yal"
or " Brother." One day it had been arranged that they
should sow gundli in a field ; but when the eldest brother
arrived at the place with the bullocks ready to plough
he found that his two brothers had not turned up with
the ploughs; so he began to call "Pal, hoi" (Pal =
plough share).
Now just then the wife of the youngest brother, Palo,
had gone towards that field to throw away the sweepings
of the cowshed and she thought Ret Mongla was calling
her name ; this surprised her and made her very angry ;
and she made up her mind to pay him back and then
if she were scolded for not paying proper respect to
her husband's eldest brother to explain that he had
insulted her first. So that morning when she took out
their breakfast to the men working in the field, she
pretended to be in great hurry, and putting down her
basket near the place where the three brothers were
ploughing, called out to them : " Come, stop ploughing,"
and then with scarcely an interval : " Look sharp and
come and eat; or if you don't I will take your breakfast
away again." So the brothers stopped their work and
ate their breakfasts.
But when Palo had gone back and they were sitting
having a chew of tobacco, the eldest brother began:
" Did you notice how that girl behaved to me just now ;
she spoke to me in a most rude way as if I were not
a person to whom she owed respect." The other two
said that they had noticed it themselves, and her hus-
THE WOMEN'S SACRIFICE 359
band Chapat Champa said that he would punish her
for it when he got home. Directly he got to the house
he began scolding her and she made no answer, but
that night when they were alone together she told him
that what she had done was because Ret Mongla had
insulted her by calling her by name. The next day
her mother-in-law took her to task but Palo gave the
same explanation.
Then Ret Mongla's mother went to him and asked
him whether there was any truth in this counter-charge ;
he saw at once what had happened and explained that
he had never called out his sister-in-law by name; he
had called out for the plough: "Pal ho! Pal hoi because
his brothers had not got the ploughs ready ; when
Palo understood what a mistake she had made, she was
covered with confusion and they brought water and
she washed Ret Mongla's feet as she had done on
the day of her marriage, and they salaamed to each
other and peace was restored. But if the mistake had
not been explained Palo would have been turned out
of the family.
CXXXVI. THE WOMEN'S SACRIFICE.
This is a story of the old days when the Santals
both men and women were very stupid. Once upon a
time the men of a certain village had fixed a day for
sacrificing a bullock ; but the very day before the sacrifice
was to take place, the Raja's sipahis came to the village
and carried off all the men to do five days forced labour
at the Raja's capital. The women thus left alone suffered
the greatest anxiety ; they thought it quite possible that
their husbands and fathers would never be allowed to
return or even be put to death ; so they met in conclave
and decided that the best thing they could do would
be to carry out the sacrifice which the men had intended
36o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
to make and which had been interrupted so unex-
pectedly.
So they made haste to wash their clothes and bathe,
and by way of purification they fasted that evening
and slept on the bare ground. Then at dawn they
madfe ready everything wanted for the sacrifice and went
to the jungle with the bullock that was to be the victim.
There at the foot of a sal tree they scraped a piece of
ground bare and smeared it with cow dung; then they
put little heaps of rice at the four corners of a square
and marked the place with vermilion ; then they sprinkled
water over the bullock and led it up to the square.
But here their diflRculties began for none of them knew
what incantations the men said on such an occasion;
they wasted a lot of time each urging the other to begin,
at last the wife of the headman plucked up courage and
started an invocation like this : " We sacrifice this bullock
to you ; grant that our husbands may return ; let not
the Raja sacrifice them but grant them a speedy return."
Having got as far as this she wanted the other women
to take a turn, but they said that her invocation was
capital and quite sufiScient; and they had better get on
to the sacrifice at once. Easier said than done ; they
none of them knew how to do it ; as they all hung back
the headman's wife scolded them roundly and bade them
take the axe and kill the beast; then they all asked
where they were to strike the animal : " Where its life
resides," said the headman's wife. "Where is that,"
asked the women. " Watch and see what part of it
moves," answered she, " and strike there.". So they looked
and presently the bullock moved its tail : " That's where
its life is," shouted they; so three or four of them caught
hold of the rope round the animal's neck and one woman
seized the axe and struck two blows at the root of the
animal's' tail. She did it no harm but the pain of the
blow made the bullock pass water. "See the blood
THE THIEF'S SON 361
flowing," cried the women, and eagerly caught the
stream in a vessel; then the sacrificer dealt another blow
which made the bullock jump and struggle until it broke
loose and galloped off. The women followed in pursuit
and chased it through a field of cotton; the bullock
knocked off many of the ripe cotton pods and these the
women thought were lumps of fat fallen from the wounded
bullock, so they took them home and ate them; such
fools were the women in those days.
CXXXVII. THE THIEF'S SON.
Once upon a time a goat strayed into the house of
a certain man who promptly killed it and hid the body.
At evening the owner of the goat missed it and came
in search of it. He asked the man who had killed it
whether he had seen it, but the latter put on an innocent
air and declared that he knew nothing about it but he
invited the owner of the missing animal to look into
the goat house and see if it had accidentally got mixed
up with the other goats. The search was of course in
vain.
Directly the owner had gone the thief brought out
the body and skinned and cut it up, and every one in
the house ate his fill of flesh. Before they went to
sleep the thief told his sons to be careful not to go
near any of the other boys when they were grazing the
cattle next day, lest they should smell that they had
been eating meat.
Next morning the thief's son took his goats out to
graze and was careful not to go near any of the other
boys who were tending cattle ; whenever they approached
him he moved away. At last they asked him what
was the matter ; and he told them that they must keep
at a distance lest they should smell what he had been
eating. "What have you eaten?" The simpleton replied
362 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
that he had been eating goat's flesh and that there was
still some in the house. The cowherds at once ran off
and told the owner of the lost goat. The news soon
spread and the villagers caught the man who had killed
the goat and searched his house and found the flesh of
the goat. Then they fined him one rupee four annas
and made him give another goat in exchange for the
one he had stolen.
CXXXVIIL THE DIVORCE.
There was once a man who had reason to suspect
his wife's faithfulness. He first tried threatening and
scolding her; but this had no good effect, for far from
being ashamed she only gave him back harder words
than she received. So he set to work to find some
way of divorcing her without making a scandal. One
day when he came home with a fine basket of fish
which he had caught he found that his father-in-law had
come to pay them a visit. As he cleaned the fish he
grumbled at the thought that his wife would of course
give all the best of them to her father; at last an idea
struck him. As he handed over the fish to his wife he
told her to be careful not to give her father the heads
of the mangri fish nor the dust of tobacco, as it was
very wrong to give either of those things to a visitor.
"Very well," she answered; but to herself she thought
"What does he mean by forbidding me to do these
things? I shall take care to give my father nothing
but the heads of the fish" for her pleasure was to
thwart her husband. So when the evening meal was
ready she filled a separate plate for her father with
nothing but the fish heads. As her husband heard the
old man munching and crunching the bones he smiled
to himself at the success of the plot. When his father
was about to leave he asked for some tobacco, and the
THE DIVORCE 363
woman brought him only tobacco dust which she had
carefully collected out of the bottom of the bag. The
old gentleman went off without a word but very dis-
appointed with his treatment.
A few days later the woman went to visit her father's
house, and then he at once asked her what she meant
by treating him as she had done. "I am sorry," said
she : " I did it to spite my husband ; he went out of
his way to tell me not to give you the heads of the
fish and the dust of tobacco, and so I picked out nothing
but heads for you and gave you all the tobacco dust I
could collect because I was so angry with him." From
this her father easily understood that husband and wife
were not getting on well together.
Time passed and one day her mother went to visit
the troublesome wife. As she was leaving, her daughter
asked whether there was any special reason for her
coming. Her mother admitted that she had come hoping
to borrow a little oil to rub on the cattle at the coming
Sohrae festival, but as her son-in-law was not there she
did not like to mention it and would not like to take
any without his consent. "O never mind himl" said
the woman and insisted on her mother taking away a
pot — not of cheap raowah or mustard oil, — but of ghee.
Now a little girl saw her do this and the tale was
soon all over the village; but the undutiful wife never
said a word about it to her husband, and it was only
after some days that he heard from others of his wife's
extravagance. When it did reach his ears he seized
the opportunity and at once drove her out of the house,
and when a panchayat was called insisted on divorcing
her for wasting his substance behind his back. No one
could deny that the reason was a good one and so the
panchayat had to allow the divorce. Thus he got rid
of his wife without letting his real reason for doing so
be known.
364 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CXXXIX. THE FATHER AND THE
FATHER-IN-LAW.
There was once a Raja who had five sons and his
only daughter was married to a neighbouring Raja.
In the course of time this Raja fell into poverty; all
his horses and cattle died and his lands were sold. At
last they had even to sell their household utensils and
clothes for food. They had only cups and dishes made
of gourds to use and the Raja's wife and sons had to
go and work as day labourers in order to get food to
eat. At last one day the Raja made up his mind to go
and visit his married daughter and ask her husband's
family to give him a brass cupfiaiij that he might have
something suitable to drink out of, Off he went and
when he reached the house he was welcomed very
politely by his daughter's father-in-law and given a seat
and water to wash his feet, and a hookah was produced
and then the following conversation began,
" Where have you come from, father of my daughter-
in-law?"
"I have walked from home, father of my son-in-law ?"
"You come here so often that you make me quite
frightened 1 How is it } Is it well with you and yours ?
with body and skin.? Would it not be well for us to
exchange news?"
" Yes indeed ; for how can you know how I am get-
ting on if I do not tell you. By your kind enquiries my
life has grown as big as a mountain, my bosom is as
broad as a mat, and my beard has become as long as
a buffalo horn."
" And I also, father of my daughter-in-law, am delighted
at your coming and enquiring about me ; otherwise I
should wonder where you had settled down, and be
thinking that you did not know the way relations should.
THE FATHER AND THE FATHER-IN-LAW 365
behave to each other; at present, I am glad to say,
the seed left after sowing, the living who have been
left behind by death, by your favour and the goodness
of God, are all doing well. Is it not a proverb. "The
eye won't walk, but the ear will go and come back in
no time. Now the ear is the visitor and so far as it
has looked our friends up, it is well with all, so far as
I know."
The other answered; "Then I understand that by the
goodness of God, all is very well with you all, O father
of my son-in-law. That is what we want, that it may
be well with us, body and soul."
"Life is our wealth ; life is great wealth. So long as
life lasts wealth will come. Even if there is nothing in
the house, we can work and earn wealth, but if life goes
where shall we obtain it?"
The visitor answered "That is true; and we have
been sufiering much from the 'standing' disease; (i.e.
hunger) I have tried to get medicine to cure it in vain ;
the Doctors know of none. I should be greatly obliged
if you could give me some medicine for it."
" The very same disease has overflowed this part of
the country" was the reply: — at this they both laughed;
and the visitor resumed, —
"Don't they say 'we asked after them and they did
not ask anything about us in return ; ' ? it is right now
for me to ask how you are getting on" and so saying
he proceeded in his turn to put the same questions and
to receive the same answers.
Then they went out and bathed and came back and
had some curds and rice and sat for a while smoking
their hookahs. Then a goat was killed and cooked and
they had a grand feast. But the Raja did not forget
about the bati, and he took his daughter aside and told
her to sound her motherrin-law about it. She brought
back a message that if he wanted anything he should
366 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
ask for it himself. So he went very shamefacedly to his
host and told him that be must he leaving : " Well, good-
bye, are you sure you only came to pay us a visit and had
no other object? " The Raja seized the opening that this
reply gave him and said " Yes, I had something in my
mind; we are so poor now that we have not even a
brass cup to drink out of, and I hoped that you would
give me one of yours."
" My dear Sir, you say that you have gourds to drink
but of: we have not even that; we have to go down
to the stream and drink out of our hands ; I certainly
cannot give you a bati." At this rebuff the poor Raja
got up and went away feeling very angry at the manner
in which he had been treated.
When he reached home the Raja vowed that he would
not even live in the neighbourhood of such faithless
friends so he went with all his family to a far country.
In their new home his luck changed and he prospered
so much that in a few years he became the Raja of
the country.
Meanwhile the other Raja — the father-in-law, — fell
into such poverty that he and his family had to beg
for their living.
The first Raja heard about this and made a plan to
attract them to the place where he lived. He ordered
a great tank to be dug and promised the workers one
pice for each basket of earth they removed. This liberal
wage attracted labourers from all sides; they came in
such numbers that they looked like ants working and
among them came the father-in-law and his family and
asked the Raja for work. The Raja recognised them
at once though they did not know him ; at first the
sight of their distress pleased him but then he reflected
that if he cherished anger Chando would be angry with
him, so he decided to treat them well and invited them
to his palace. The poor creatures thought that they
THE REPROOF 367
were probably doomed for sacrifice but could only do
as they were bid. Great was their amazement when
they were well fed and entertained and when they learnt
who their benefactor was they burst into tears ; and the
Raja pointed out to them how wrong it was to laugh
at the poor, because wealth might all fly away as theirs
had done.
CXL. THE REPROOF.
A poor man once went to visit his daughter's father-
in-law who was very rich. The rich man was proud of
his wealth and looked down on poverty; so he made
no special entertainment for his visitor and only gave
him rice and dal for his dinner. When they went out
to bathe he stood on the bank of the tank and began
to boast. "I made this tank; all the land over there
belongs to me; all those buffaloes and cattle you see,
belong to me; I have so many that I have to keep
two men to milk them-"
The visitor said nothing at the time but that after-
noon as host and guest sat smoking together they saw
a beggar standing in front of the house. The sun was
very powerful and the ground was so hot that the
beggar kept shifting from one foot to another as he
stood out in the sun. Then the poor visitor spoke up
and said " It is strange that when you made such a
nice house you made the roof without eaves." "Where
are your eyes? Cannot you see the eaves?" asked the
host in astonishment. The other answered "I see that
you have made a house as high as a hill but if it
had any eaves, surely that poor beggar there would
not be standing out in the sun; and this morning you
must have been mistaken in saying that that tank was
yours for otherwise you would have given me fish for
dinner ; and I think that they were only rocks and tufts
368 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
of grass which you pointed out to me as your flocks and
herds for otherwise you would have offered me some
milk or curds." And the rich man was ashamed and
had no answer to make.
CXLL ENIGMAS.
Once upon a time a man and his son went on a
visit to the son's father-in-law. They were welcomed
in a friendly way; but the father-in-law was much put
out at the unexpected visit as he had nothing ready
for the entertainment of his guest. He took an opportunity
to go into the house and said to one of his daughters-
in-law. "Now, my girl, fill the little river and the big
river while I am away; and polish the big axe and
the little axe and dig out five or six channels, and put
hobbles on these relations who have come to visit us
and bar them into the cow house. I am going to bathe
and will come back with a pot full of the water of dry
land, then we will finish off these friends."
The two visitors outside overheard this strange talk
and began to wonder what it meant. They did not
like the talk about axes and digging channels, it sounded
as if their host meant to kill them as a sacrifice and
bury their bodies in a river bed; rich men had been
known to do such things. With this thought in their
minds they got up and began to run away as fast as
their legs could carry them. But when the young
woman saw what they were doing she ran after them
and called them back.
They reluctantly stopped to hear what she had to
say ; and when she came up they reproached her for
not having warned them of the fate in store for them.
But she only laughed at their folly and explained that
what her father-in-law meant was that she should wash
their feet and give them a seat in the cow house; and
THE TOO PARTICULAR WIFE 369
make ready two pots of rice beer and polish the big
and little brass basins and make five or six leaf cups
and he would bring back some liquor and they would
all have a drink. At this explanation they had a hearty
laugh and went back to the house.
CXLII. THE TOO PARTICULAR WIFE.
There was once a man with a large tumour on his
forehead and his wife was so ashamed of it that she
would never go about with him anywhere for fear of
being laughed at. One day she went with a party of
friends to see the Charak Puja. Her husband wished
to go with her but she flatly declined to allow him.
So when she had gone he went to a friend's house
and borrowed a complete set of new clothes and a large
pagri. When he had rigged himself out in these he
could hardly be recognised; but his forehead with the
tumour was quite visible. Then he too went off to the
fair and found his wife busy dancing. After watching
her for some time he borrowed one of the drums and
began to play for the dancers ; and in particular he
played and danced just in front of his wife.
When he saw that his wife was preparing to go home
he started off ahead, got rid of his fine clothes and
took the cattle out to graze. Presently he went back
to the house and asked his wife whether she had enjoyed
the fun. "You should have come to see it for your-
self," said she.
"But you would not let mel Otherwise I should
have gone."
"Yes," answered his wife, "I was ashamed of the
lump on your forehead but other people do not seem
to mind, for there was a man there with a lump just
like yours who was playing the drum and taking a
leading part in the fun and no one seemed to laugh at
him : so in future I shall not mind going about with you."
34
370 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CXLIIL THE PAHARIA SOCIALISTS.
Formerly before the Santals came into the country
the four taluqs of Sankara, Chiptiam, Sulunga and
Dhaka formed the Paharia Raj and the whole country
was dense jungle. Then the Santals came and cleared
the jungle, and brought the land under cultivation. The
Paharia Raja of Gando was named Somar Singh and
he paid tribute to the Burdwan Raja.
Once ten or twelve Paharias went to Burdwan to pay
the annual tribute. After they had paid in the money
the Raja gave them a feast and a room to sleep in
and sent them one bed. The Paharias had a discussion
as to who should sleep on the bed and in order to
avoid any ill-feeling about it they decided that they
would all sleep on the ground and put their feet on
the bed and then they could feel that they had all an
equal share of it. This they did and in the morning
the Burdwan Raja came in and found them all lying
in this strange position and was very much amused.
He explained that he had sent the bed for the use of
the chief man among them and asked whether they had
no distinctions of rank. "Yes" they said "we have in
our own villages; but here we are in a foreign land
and as we do not all belong to one village who is to
decide which is the chief among us. Away from home
we are all equal "
CXLIV. HOW A TIGER WAS KILLED.
In the days when the Santals lived in the jungle
country there was once a man who had a patch of
maize by the bank of a stream ; and to watch his crop
he had put up a platform in his field. Now one day
he stole a goat and killed it; he did not take it home
THE GOALA'S DAUGHTER 371
nor tell his family; he took it to the maize patch with
some firewood and fire and a knife and a hatchet ; and
he hoisted all these on to his platform and lit a fire in
the bottom of an earthen pot and cut up the goat and
began to cook and eat the flesh. And a tiger smelt
the fiesh and came and sat down under the platform.
As the man ate he threw down the bones and as he
threw them the tiger caught them in its mouth; and
after a time the man noticed that he did not hear the
bones strike the ground; so he looked down quietly
and saw the tiger; then he was very frightened for he
thought that when he could no longer keep the tiger
quiet by throwing down bits of meat, the tiger would
spring up unto the platform and eat him.
At last a thought struck him and he drew the head
of his hatchet off the handle and put it in the fire till
it became red-hot; and meanwhile he kept the tiger
quiet by throwing down pieces of meat. Then when
the axe head was ready he picked it out of the fire
and threw it down; the tiger caught it as it fell and
roared aloud with pain ; its tongue and palate and throat
were so burnt that it died.
Thus the man saved himself from the tiger and
whether the story be true or no, it is known to all
Santals.
CXLV. THE GOALA'S DAUGHTER.
There was once a man of the Goala caste who had
an only daughter and she grew up and was married,
but had no child ; and after twenty years of married
life she gave up all hope of having any. This mis-
fortune preyed on her mind and she fell into a melan-
choly. Her parents asked her why she was always
weeping and all the answer she would give was "My
sorrow is that I have never worn clothes of "Dusty
372 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
cloth" and that is a sorrow which you cannot cure."
But her father and mother determined to do what they
could for their daughter and sent servants with money
into all the bazars to buy "Dusty cloth". The shop-
keepers had never heard of such an article so they
bought some cloth of any sort they could get and
brought it to the Goala; when he offered it to his
daughter she thanked him and begged him not to waste
his money :
" You do not understand" said she — " what I mean
by "Dusty cloth." God has not given it to me and
no one else can; what I mean by 'Dusty cloth' is the
cloth of a mother made dusty by the feet of her child."
Then her father and mother understood and wept with
her, saying that they would do what man could do but
this was in the hands of God; and they sang: —
''Whatever the child of another may suffer, we care not:
But our own child, we will take into our lap, even when it is
covered with dust."
CXLVL THE BRAHMAN'S CLOTHES.
There was once a Brahman who had two wives;
like many Brahmans he lived by begging and was very
clever at wheedling money out of people. One day
the fancy took him to go to the market place dressed
only in a small loin cloth such as the poorest labourers
wear and see how people treated him. So he set out
but on the road and in the market place and in the
village no one salaamed to him or made way to him
and when he begged no one gave him alms. He soon
got tired of this and hastened home and putting on his
best pagri and coat and dhoti went back to the market
place. This time every one who met him on the road
salaamed low to him and made way for him and every
shopkeeper to whom he went gave him alms: and the
THE WINNING OF A BRIDE 373
people in the village who had refused before gladly
made offerings to him. The Brahman went home
smiling to himself and took off" his clothes and put them
in a heap and prostrated himself before them three or
four times, saying each time. "O source of wealth:
O source of wealth!" it is clothes that are honoured
in this world and nothing else."
CXLVII. THE WINNING OF A BRIDE.
Formerly this country was all jungle ; and when the
jungle was first cleared the crops were very luxuriant;
and the Santals had large herds of cattle, for there was
much grazing; so they had milk and curds in quantities
and ghee was as common as water; but now milk and
curds are not to be had. In those days the Santals
spent their time in amusements and did not trouble
about amassing wealth, but they were timid and were
much oppressed by their Rajas who looted any man
who showed signs of wealth. Well, in those days the
winters were very cold and there used to be heavy frost
at nights. And there was a man who had seven grown-up
daughters and no son ; and at the time of threshing the
paddy he had to undergo much hardship because he
had no son to work for him; he had to sleep on the
threshing floor and to get up very early to let out the
cattle; and as the hoar frost lay two inches deep he
found it bitterly cold.
In those days the villagers had a common threshing
floor; and one day this man was talking to a friend
and he jestingly asked whether he would spend a night
naked on the threshing floor; and the friend said that
he would if there were sufficient inducement but certainly
not for nothing. Then the father of the seven daughters
said "If you or any one else will spend a night naked
on the threshing floor I will give him my eldest daughter
374 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
in marriage without charging any bride price." — for he
wanted a son-in-law to help him in his work. A common
servant in the employ of the village headman heard him
and said "I will accept the offer;" the man had not
bargained for such an undesirable match but he could
not go back from his word ; so he agreed and said that
he would choose a night ; and he waited till it was very
cold and windy and then told the headman's servant
to sleep out that night. The servant spent the night on
the threshing floor without any clothes in spite of the
frost and won his bride.
PART IV
The following stories illustrate the belief in Bongas,
i.e. the spirits which the Santals believe to exist every-
where, and to take an active part in human affairs.
Bongas frequently assume the form of young men and
women and form connections with human beings of the
opposite sex.
At the bidding of witches they cause desease, or
they hound on the tiger to catch men. But they are
by no means always malevolent and are capable of
gratitude. The Kisar Bonga or Brownie who takes up
his abode in a house steals food for the master of the
house, and unless offended will cause him to grow rich.
CXLVIII. MARRIAGE WITH BONGAS.
There have been many cases of Santals marrying
bonga girls. Not of course with formal marriage
ceremonies but the marriage which results from merely
living together.
In Darbar village near Silingi there are two men who
married bongas. One of them was very fond of playing
on the flute and his playing attracted a bonga girl who
came to him looking like a human girl, while he was
tending buffaloes. After the intimacy had lasted some
time she invited him to visit her parents, so he went
with her and she presented him to her father and mother
as her husband. But he was very frightened at what
he saw ; for the seats in the house were great coiled up
snakes and on one side a number of tigers and leopards
were crouching. Directly he could get a word alone
with his wife he begged her to come away but she
insisted on his staying to dinner; so they had a meal
of dried rice and curds and gur and afterwards he
smoked a pipe with his bonga father-in-law and then
he set off home with his bonga wife. They were given
a quantity of dried rice and cakes to take with them
when they left.
After seeing him home his wife left him; so he
thought that he would share the provisions which he
had brought with a friend of his; he fetched his friend
but when they came to open the bundle in which the
rice and cakes had been tied, they found nothing but
378 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
meral leaves and cow dung cakes such as are used for
fuel. This friend saw that the food must have been
given by bongas and it was through the friend that the
story became known.
In spite of this the young man never gave up his
bonga wife until his family married him properly. She
used to visit his house secretly, but would never eat
food there; and during his connection with her all his
affairs prospered, his flocks and herds increased and he
became rich, but after he married he saw the bonga girl
no more.
The adventures of the other young man of the same
village were much the same. He made the acquaintance
of a bonga girl thinking that she was some girl of the
village, but she really inhabited a spring, on the margin
of which grew many ahar flowers. One day she asked
him to pick her some of the ahar flowers and while he
was doing so she cast some sort of spell upon him and
spirited him away into the pool. Under the water he
found dry land and many habitations ; they went on till
they came to the bonga girl's house and there he too
saw the snake seats and tigers and leopards.
He was hospitably entertained and stayed there about
six months; one of his wife's brothers was assigned to
him as his particular companion and they used to go
out hunting together. They used tigers for hunting-dogs
and their prey was men and women, whom the tigers
killed, while the bonga took their flesh home and cooked
it. One day when they were hunting the bonga pointed
out to the young man a wood cutter in the jungle and
told him to set the tiger on to " yonder peacock" ;
but he could not bring himself to commit murder;
so he first shouted to attract the wood cutter's attention
and then let the tiger loose; the wood cutter saw the
animal coming and killed it with his axe as it sprang
upon him.
THE BONGA HEADMAN 379
His bonga father-in-law was so angry with him for
having caused the death of the tiger, that he made his
daughter take her husband back to the upper world
again.
In spite of all he had seen the young man did not
give up his Bonga wife and every two or three months
she used to spirit him away under the water: and now
that man is a jdn guru.
CXLIX. THE BONGA HEADMAN.
Sarjomghutu is a village about four miles from
Barhait Bazar on the banks of the Badi river. On the
river bank grows a large banyan tree. This village has
no headman or paranic; any headman who is appointed
invariably dies; so they have made a bonga who lives
in the banyan tree their headman.
When any matter has to be decided, the villagers all
meet at the banyan tree, where they have made their
manjki than ; they take out a stool to the tree and invite
the invisible headman to sit on it. Then they discuss
the matter and themselves speak the answers which the
headman is supposed to give. This goes on to the
present day and there is no doUbt that these same
villagers sometimes offer human sacrifices, but they will
never admit it, for it would bring them bad luck to
speak about it.
The villagers get on very well with the bonga. If
any of them has a wedding or a number of visitors at
his house, and has not enough plates and dishes, he
goes to the banyan tree and asks the headman to lend
him some. Then he goes back to his house, and
returning in a little while finds the plates and dishes
waiting for him under the tree ; and when he has finished
with them he cleans them well and takes them back to
the tree.
38o FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CL. LAKHAN AND THE BONGAS.
Once a young man named Lakhan was on a hunting
party and he pursued a deer by himself and it led him
a long chase until he was far from his companions ; and
when he was close behind it they came to a pool all
overgrown with weeds and the deer jumped into the
pool and Lakhan after it; and under the weeds he found
himself on a dry high road and he followed the deer
along this until it entered a house and he also entered.
The people of the house asked him to sit down but the
stool which was offeree! him was a coiled up snake, so
he would not go near it ; and he saw that they were
bongas and was too frightened to speak. And in the cattle
pen attached to the house he saw a great herd of deer.
Then a boy came running in and asked the mistress
of the house who Lakhan was; she said that he had
brought their kid home for them. Lakhan wanted to
run away but he could not remember the road by
which he had come. Two daughters of the house were
there and they wanted their father to keep Lakhan as
a son-in-law; but their father told them to catch him a
kid and let him go; so they brought him a fawn and
the two girls led him back and took him through the
pool to the upper world : but on the way they put some
enchantment on him, for two or three weeks later he
went mad and in his madness he ran about from one
place to another and one day he ran into the pool and
was seen no more, and no one knows where he went or
whether the two bonga maidens took him away.
CLL THE HOUSE BONGA.
Once upon a time there was a house bonga who lived
in the house of the headman of a certain village; and
THE HOUSE BONGA 381
it was a shocking thief; it used to steal every kind of
grain and food, cooked and uncooked; out of the houses
of the villagers. The villagers knew what was going on
but could never catch it.
One evening however the bonga was coming along
with a pot of boiled rice which it had stolen, when one
of the villagers suddenly came upon it face to face;
the bonga slunk into the hedge but the villager saw it
clearly and flung his stick at it, whereupon the bonga
got frightened and dropped the pot of rice on tlie
ground so that it was smashed to pieces and fled.
Th villager pursued the bonga till he saw it enter the
headman's house. Then he went home, intending the
next morning to show the neighbours the spilt rice lying
on the path ; but when the morning came he found that
the rice had been removed, so he kept quiet.
At midday he heard the headman's servants com-
plaining that the rice which had been given them for
breakfast was so dirty and muddy that some of them
had not been able to eat it at all; then he asked how
they were usually fed "Capitally," they answered "we
get most varied meals, often with turmeric and pulse
or vegetables added to the rice ; but that is only for the
morning meal; for supper we get only plain rice."
"Now, I can tell you the reason of that" said the villager,
" there is a greedy bonga in your house who goes stealing
food at night and puts some of what he gets into your
pots for your morning meal." "That's a fine story"
said the servants: "No, it's true" said the villager, and
told them how the evening before he had made the bonga
drop the rice and how afterwards it had been scraped up
off the ground ; and when they heard this they believed
him because they had found the mud in their food.
Some time afterwards the same man saw the bonga
again at night making off with some heads of Indian
corn; so he woke up a friend and they both took
382 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
sticks and headed ofif the bonga, who threw down the
Indian corn and ran away to the headman's house.
Then they woke up the headman and told him that a
thief had run into his house. So he lit a lamp and
went in to look, and they could hear the bonga running
about all over the ,' house makiiig a great clatter and
trying to hide itself; but they could not see it. Then
they took the headman to see the Indian corn which
the bonga had dropped in its flight. The next day the
villagers met and fined the headman for having the
bonga in his house; and from that time the bonga did
not steal in that village, and whenever the two men who
had chased it visited the headman's house the bonga was
heard making a great clatter as it rushed about trying
to hide.
CLIL THE SARSAGUN MAIDEN.
There was once a Sarsagun girl who was going to
be married; and a large party of her girl friends went
to the jungle to pick leaves for the wedding. The
Sarsagun girl persisted in going with them as usual
though they begged her not to do so. As they picked
the leaves they sang songs and choruses ; so they worked
and sang till they came to a tree covered with beauti-
ful flowers ; they all longed to adorn their hair with the
flowers but the difficulty was that they had no comb
or looking glass ; at last one girl said that a bonga Kora
lived close by who could supply them ; thereupon there
was a great dispute as to who should go to the bonga
Kora and ask for a mirror and comb ; each wanted the
other to go; and in the end they made the Sarsagun
girl go. She went to the bonga Kora and called " Bonga
Kora give a me mirror and comb that we may adorn our
hair with Mirjin flowers." The Bonga Kora pointed them
out to her lying on a shelf and she took them away.
THE SARSAGUN MAIDEN 383
Then they had a gay time adorning their hair;
but when they had finished not one of the girls would
consent to take back the mirror and comb. The Sarsagun
maiden urged that as she had brought them it was only
fair that someone else should take them back ; but they
would not listen, so in the end she had to take them.
The Bonga Kora pointed to a shelf for her to plape
them on but when she went to do so and was well
inside his house he closed the door and shut her in.
Her companions waited for her return till they were
tired and then went home and told her mother what
had happened. Then her father and brother went in
search of her and coming to the Bonga Kora's home
they sang :
"Daughter, you combed yourself with a one row comb
"Daughter, you put mirjin flowers in your hair
"Daughter, come hither to us."
But she only answered from within —
"He has shut me in with a stone, father
"He has closed the door upon me, father
"Do you and my mother go home again."
Then her eldest brother came and sang the same song
and received the same answer; her raothers's brother
and father's sister then came and sang, also in vain;
so they all went home.
Just then the intended bridegroom with his party
arrived at the village and were welcomed with refresh-
ments and invited to camp under a tree ; but while the
bridegroom's party were taking their ease, the bride's
relations were in a great to-do because the bride was
missing; and when the matchmaker came and asked
them to get the marriage ceremony over at once that
the brid^room might return, they had to take him into
the house and tell him what had happened. The match-
maker went and told the bridegroom, who at once called
384 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
his men to him and mounted his horse and rode ofif in
a rage. Now it happened that the drummers attached
to the procession had stopped just in front of the home
of the Bonga Kara and were drumming away there; so
when the bridegroom rode up to them his horse passed
over the door of the Bonga Kora's home and stamped
on it so hard that it flew open ; standing just inside
was the Sarsagun girl; at once the bridegroom pulled
her but, placed her on his horse and rode off with her
to his home.
CLIIL THE SCHOOLBOY AND THE BONGA.
There was once a boy who went every day to school
and on his way home he used always to bathe in a certain
tank. Every day he left his books and slate on the bank
while he bathed and no one ever touched them. But
one day while he was in the water a bonga maiden came
out of the tank and took his books and slate with her
under the water. When the boy had finished bathing
he searched for them a long time in vain and then went
home crying. When the midday meal was served he
refused to eat anything unless his books were found:
his father and mother promised to find them for him
and so he ate a very little. When the meal was finished
his father and mother went to the bonga maiden and
besought her — singing
"Give daughter-in-law, give
Give our boy his pen, give up his pen."
The bonga maiden sang in answer
"Let the owner of the pen
Come himself and fetch it."
Then the boy's eldest brother and his wife went and sang
"Give, sister-in-law, give,
Give our brother his pen : give up his pen."
THE SCHOOLBOY AND THE BONGA 385
The bonga maiden sing in answer
" Let the owner of the pen
Come himself and fetch it."
Then the boy's maternal uncle and his wife went and
sang the same song and received the same answer.
So they told the boy that he must go himself.
When he reached the tank the bonga girl came up and
held out his books to him; but when he went to take
them she drew back and so she enticed him into the
tank; but when once he was under the water he found
he was in quite a dry and sandy place. There he
stayed and was married to the honga girl. After he
had lived with her a long time he became homesick
and longed to see his father and mother. So he told
his bonga wife that he must go and visit them. " Then
do not take your school books with you," said she;
"perhaps you won't come back." "No, 1 will surely
return," he answered; so she agreed to his going and
said that she would sit on the door step and watch for
his return; and he must promise to be very quick.
She tied up some cakes and dried rice for him and
also gave him back his school books.
She watched him go to his home and sat and watched
for his return but he never came back. Evening came
and night came but he did not return: then the bonga
girl rose and went after him. She went through the
garden and up to her husband's house in a flame of fire :
and there she changed herself into a Karinangin snake and
entering the house climbed on to the bed where the boy lay
sleeping and climbed on to his breast and bit him,
"Rise mother, rise mother.
The Karinangin snake
Is biting me."
he called —
But no one heard him though he kept on calling: so
he died and the bonga girl went away with his spirit.
25
386 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CLIV. THE BONGA'S CAVE.
There was once a young bonga who dwelt in a cave
in the side of a hill in the jungle ; and every day he placed
on a flat stone outside, a pot of oil and a comb and
a looking glass and some lamp black or vermilion; any
woman who went to the jungle could see these things
lying there; but they were never visible to a man. After
a time the girls who went to the jungle began to use
the comb and looking glass and to dress and oil their
hair there ; it became a regular custom for them to go
first to the flat stone before collecting their firewood or
leaves.
One day five girls went together to the jungle
and after they had combed and dressed their hair it
happened that one got left behind ; and seeing her alone
the bonga came out of the cave and creeping up quietly
from behind threw his arms round her; and although
she shouted to her friends for help he dragged her inside
the cave. Her companions were just in time to see her
disappear; and they begged and prayed the bonga to
let the girl go for once; but the bonga answered from
within that he would never let her go but was going to
keep her as his wife; and he drew a stone door over
the mouth of the cave. News of the misfortune was
sent to the girl's parents and they came hastening to
the place ; and her mother began to sing :
'"My daughter, you rubbed your hair with oil from a pot:
My daughter, you combed your hair with a comb with one
row of teeth,
Come hither to me, my daughter."
And the girl sang from within the cave :
"Mother, he has shut me in with a stone
With a stone door he has shut me in, mother
Mother, you must go back home."
THE BONGA'S CAVE 387
Then her father sang the same song and got the same
answer ; so they all went home. Thpn the girl's father's
younger brother and his wife came and sang the song
and received the same answer and then her mother's
brother and father's sister came and then all her rela-
tions, but all in vain. Last of all came her brother
riding on a horse and when he heard his sister's answer
he turned his horse round and made it prance and kick
until it kicked open the stone door of the cave; but
this was of no avail for inside were inner doors which
he could not open ; so he also had to go home and
leave his sister with the bonga.
The girl was not unhappy as the wifq of the bonga
and after a time sHe prgposed to him they should go
and pay a visit to her parents. So the next day they
took some cakes and dried rice and set off; they were
welcomed right warmly and pressed to stay the night.
In the course of the afternoon the girl's mother chanced
to look at the provisions which they had brought with
them ; and was surprised to see that in place of cakes
was dried cowdung and instead of rice, leaves of the
meral tree. The mother called her daughter in, to look
but the girl could give no explanation ; all she knew
was that she had put up cakes and dried rice at starting.
Her father told them all to keep quiet about the matter
lest there should be any unpleasantness and the bonga
decline to come and visit them again.
Now the girl's brother had become great friends
with his bonga brother-in-law and it was only natural
that when the bonga and his wife set off home the
next morning he should offer to accompany them part
of the way. Off they started, the girl in front, then
the bonga and then her brother; now the brother
had hidden an axe under his cloth and as they were
passing through some jungle he suddenly attacked the
bonga from behind and cut off his head. Then he called
388 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
to his sister that he had killed the bonga and bade her
come back with him; so the two turned back and as
they looked round this saw that the ^ow^a'j head was
coming rolling after them. At this they started to run
and ran as hard as they could until they got to the
house and all the way the head came rolling after until
it rolled right into the house. There was a fire burning
on the hearth and they plucked up courage to take the
head and throw it into the fire where it was burnt to
ashes. That was the end of the bonga but eight or
nine days later the girl's head began to ache and in
spite of all medicines they applied it got worse and
worse until in a short time she died. Then they knew
that the bonga had taken her away and had not given
her up.
CLV. THE BONGA'S VICTIM.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers and
they had one sister. Every day they used to go out
hunting leaving their wives and sister at home. One
very hot day they had been hunting since dawn and
began to feel very thirsty ; so they searched for water
but could find none. Then one of them climbed a tree
and from its summit saw a beautiful pool of water close
by : so he came down and they all went in the direction
in which he had seen the water; but they could not
find it anywhere ; so another of the brothers climbed a
tree and he called out that he could see the pool close
by, but when he came down and led them in what he
thought was the right direction he was equally unable
to find the water; and so it went on; whenever they
climbed a tree they could see the water close by, but
when on the ground they could not find it; and all the
time they were suffering tortures from thirst.
Then they saw that some bonga was deluding them
THE BONGA'S VICTIM 389
and that they; must offer some sacrifice to appease him.
At first they proposed to devote one of their wives to
the bonga ; but not one of the brothers was wiUing that his
wife should be the victim; and they had no children to
offer 30 at last they decided to dedicate their only sister
as the sacrifice. Then they prayed " Ye who are keeping
the water from us, listen; we dedicate to you our only
sister; show us where the water is." No sooner had
they said this than they saw a pool of water close
beside them and hastened to it and quenched their thirst.
Then they rested and began to discuss how they should
sacrifice their sister; and at last they decided that as
they had devoted her to the bonga because they wanted
water, it would be best to cast her into the water ; and
they planned to go and work one day near a pond of
theirs and make their sister bring their breakfast out to
them and then drown her.
So they went home and two or three days later the
eldest brother said that the time had come for the sacrifice ;
but the two youngest loved their sister very much and
begged for a little delay. Out of pity the others agreed ;
but almost at once one of the brothers fell ill and was
like to die. Medicines were tried but had no effect ;
then they called in an ojha and he told them that the
bonga to whom they had made the vow while out hunt-
ing had caused the illness and that if they did not
fulfil the vow their brother would die. Then they all
went to the sick man's bedside and poured out water
on the ground and swore that they would fulfil their
vow; no sooner had they done so than the sick man
was restored to health.
So the very next day they arranged to go and level
the field near their pond and they told their wives to
send their sister to them with their breakfast. When
the time came the girl took out their breakfast and put
it down by them and they sent her to draw water for
390 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
them from the pond but when she put her water pot
down to the surface it would not sink so as to let the
water run in. The girl called out to her brothers that
the pot would not fill ; they told her to go a little
further into the water; so she went in till the water
was up to her thighs but still the pot would not fill :
then they called to her to go in further and she went
in waist deep but still it would not fill ; then she went
in up to her neck and still it would not fill ; then she
went in a little further and the water closed over her
and she was drowned. At this sight the brothers threw
away the food which she had brought and hastened
home.
Some days later the body rose and floated to the
bank and at the place where it lay a bamboo sprang
up and grew and flourished. One day a Dome went to
cut it down to make a flute of; as he raised his axe
the voice of the girl spoke from within the bamboo
"O Dome, do not cut high up; cut low down." The
Dome looked about but could not see who it was who
spoke; however he obeyed the voice and cut the bam-
boo close to the ground and made a flute of it. The
sound of the flute was surpassingly sweet and the Dome
used to play on it every day. One day he was playing
on it at a friend's house and a Santal heard it and was
so taken by its sweet tone that he came at night and
stole it.
Having got possession of it he used to play on it
constantly and always keep it by him. Every night
the flute became a woman and the Santal found her
in his house without knowing where she came from
and used to spend the night talking to her but towards
morning she used to go outside the house on some
pretext and disappear. But one night as she was about
to depart the Santal seized her and forced her to stay'
with him. Then she retained her human form but the
BAIJAL AND THE BONGA 391
flute was never seen afterwards ; so they called the girl
the Flute girl and she and the Santal were betrothed
and soon afterwards married.
CLVI. BAIJAL AND THE BONGA.
Once upon a time there was a young man named
Baijal and he was very skilful at playing on the bamboo
flute. He played so sweetly that a bonga girl who
heard him fell deeply in love with him and one day
when Baijal was alone in the jungle she took the form
of a pretty girl and pretended that she had come to
the jungle to gather leaves. The two met and acquain-
tance soon became love and the two used to meet each
other every day in the jungle. One day the bonga girl
asked Baijal to come home with her; so they went to
a pool of water and waded into it but when the water
had risen to the calf of his leg Baijal suddenly found
himself on a broad dry road which led to his mistress's
house. When they reached it the bonga girl introduced
Baijal to her father and brothers as her husband and
told him not to be afraid of anything he saw; but he
could not help feeling frightened, for the stools on which
they sat were coiled-up snakes and the house dogs were
tigers and leopards.
After he had been there three of four day his brothers-
in-law one morning asked him to come out hunting pea
fowl. He readily agreed and they all set out together.
The Bongas asked Baijal to lead the dog but as the dog
was a tiger he begged to be excused until they reached
the jungle. So they hunted through the hills and valleys
until they came to a clearing in which there was a
man chopping up a tree. Then the bongas called to
Baijal " There is a peacock feeding ; take the dog ; throw
a stick and knock the bird over and then loose the dog
at it." Baijal pretended not to understand and said that
392 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
he could see no peacock; then they told him plainly
that the man chopping the log was their game. Then
he saw that he was meant to kill the man and not only
so, but that he would have to eat the flesh afterwards.
However he was afraid to refuse, so he took the tiger
in the leash and went towards the clearing but instead
of first throwing his stick at the man he merely let the
tiger loose and cheered it on. The wood cutter heard
the shout and looking round saw the tiger; grasping
his axe he ran to meet it and as the animal sprang on
him he smote it on the head and killed it. Then Baijal
went back and told his brothers-in-law that the peacock
had pecked their hound to death. They were very
a:ngry with him for not throwing his stick first but he
explained that he thought that such a big dog as theirs
would not need any help.
Two or three days later Baijal told his bonga wife to
come home with him, so they set off with a bundle of
provisions for the journey. When they had passed out
through the pool Baijal opened the bundle to have
something to eat but found that the bread had turned
into cowdung fuel cakes ; and the parched rice into
meral leaves ; so he threw them all away. However he
would not give up the bonga girl and they used to meet
daily and in the course of time two children were born
to them. Whenever there was a dance in the village
the bonga girl used to come to it. She would leave
the two children on Baijal's bed and spend the whole
night dancing with the other women of the village.
The time came when Baijal's parents arranged for
his marriage, for they knew nothing of his bonga wife;
and before the marriage the bonga made him promise
that if he had a daughter he would name the child after
her. Even when he was married he did not give up
his bonga wife and used to meet her as before. One
night she came with her children to a dance and after
RAMAI AND THE BONGA 393
dancing some time said that she wa:3 tired and would
go away ; Baijal urged her not to go but to come with
her children and live in his house along with his other
wife. She would not agree and he tried to force her
and shut the door of the house ; but she and her children
rose to the roof in a flash of light and disappeared over
the top of the house wall and passed away from the
village in a flame of fire. At this Baijal was so frightened
that from that time he gave her up and never went
near her again.
By and bye his wife bore him a daughter but they
did not *name the child after the bonga and the con-
sequence was that it soon pined away and died. Two
or three more were born but they also all died young
because he had not named them after the bonga. At
last he did give a daughter the right name and from
that time his children lived.
CLVII., RAMAI AND THE BONGA.
Once a bonga * haunted the house of a certain man
and became such a nuisance that the man had him
exorcised and safely pegged down to the ground; and
they fenced in the place where ^t bonga lay with thorns
and put a large stone on the top of him. Just at the
place was a clump of "Kite's claws" bushes and one
day when the berries on the bushes were ripe, a cer-
tain cowherd named Ramai went to pick them and when
he came round to the stone which covered the bonga
he stood on it to pick the fruit and the bonga called
out to him to get off the stone ; Ramai looked about
and seeing no one said "Who is that speaking?" and
the voice said " I am buried under the stone ; if you
will take it off me I will give you whatever boon you
ask"; Ramai said that he was afraid that the bonga
* Kisar bonga = brownie.
394 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
would eat him but the bonga swore to do him no harm,
so he lifted up the stone and the bonga came out and
thanking Ramai told him to ask a boon.
Ramai asked for the power to see bongas and to
understand the language of ants. "I will give you the
power," said the bonga, " but you must tell no one
about it, not even your wife ; if you do you will lose
the power and in that case you must not blame me."
Then the bonga blew into his ear and he heard the
speech of ants ; and the bonga scratched the film of his
eye balls with a thorn and he saw the bongas: and
there were crowds of them living in villages like men.
In December when we thresh the rice the bongas carry
off half of it; but Ramai could see them and would
drive them away and so was able to save his rice.
Once a young fellow of his own age was very ill;
and his friends blew into his ears and partially brought
him to his senses and he asked them to send for Ramai ;
so they called Ramai and he had just been milking his
cows and came with the tethering rope in his hand;
and when he entered the room he saw a bonga sitting
on the sick man's: chest and twisting his neck; so he
flogged it with the . rope till it ran away and he pursued
it until it threw itself into a pool of water; and then
the sick man recovered.
But Ramai soon lost his useful power ; one day as he
was eating his dinner he dropped some grains of rice
and two ants fell to quarrelling over one grain and Ramai
heard them abusing each other and was so amused that
he laughed out loud.
His wife asked why he laughed and he said at nothing
in particular, but she insisted on knowing and he said
that it was at some scandal he had heard in the village ;
but she would not believe him and worried him until he
told her that it was at the quarrel of the ants. Then
she made him tell her how he gained the power to
THE BOUNDARY BONGA 395
understand what they said: but from that moment he
lost the powers which the bonga had conferred on him.
CLVIII. THE BOUNDARY BONGA.
There was once a man who owned a rich swampy
rice field. Every year he used to sacrifice a pig to the
boundary bonga before harvest ; but nevertheless the bonga
always reaped part of the crop. One year when the rice
was ripening the man used to go and look at it every
day. One evening after dusk as he was sitting quietly
at the edge of the field he overheard the bonga and
his wife talking. The bonga said that he was going to
pay a visit to some friends but his wife begged him
not to go because the rice was ripe and the farmer
would be cutting it almost at once. However the
bdnga would not listen to her advice and set off on
his journey.
The farmer saw that there was no time to be lost and
the very next day he sacrificed the usual pig and reaped
the whole of the crop. That evening when work was
over he stayed and listened to hear whether the bonga
had come back, but all was quiet. The next day he
threshed the paddy and instead of twenty bushels as
usual he found that he had got sixty bushels of rice.
That evening he again went to the field and this time
he found that the bonga had returned and was having
a fine scolding from his wife, because he had let the
farmer reap the whole crop. "Take your silly pig and
your silly plate of flour from the sacrifice," screamed
the bonga' s wife, throwing them at her spouse, "that
is all you have got; this is all because you would
go away when I told you not to do it; how could I
reap the crop with the children to look after ? If you
had stayed we might have got five bandis of rice from
that field."
396 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CLIX. THE BONGA EXORCISED.
A VERY poor man was once ploughing his field and
as he ploughed the share caught fast in something. At
first he thought that it was a root and tried to divide
it with his axe ; but as he could not cut it he looked
closer and found that it was a copper chain. He followed
the chain along and at either end he found a brass pot
full of rupees. Delighted with his luck he wrapped the
pots in his cloth and hurried home. Then he and his
wife counted the money and buried it under the floor
of their house.
From that time the man began to prosper ; his crops
were always good; and his cattle increased and multi-
plied; he had many children and they grew up strong
and healthy and were married and had children of their own.
But after many years luck changed. The fainily was
constantly ill and every year a child died. The fan
guru who was consulted declared that a Kisar bonga
was responsible for their misfortunes. He told the sons
how their father had found the money in the ground
and said that the bonga to whom the money belonged
was responsible for their misfortunes and was named
Mainomati.
He told them how to get rid of the bonga. They
were to dig up the buried money and place it in bags ;
and load it on the back of a young heifer; and take
five brass nails and four copper nails, and two rams.
If the bonga was willing to leave the house the heifer
would walk away to another village directly the bags
were placed on its back ; but if the bonga would not go
the heifer would not move.
So ■ they did as the Janguru advised and when the
bags were placed on the heifer it walked away to a
large peepul tree growing on the banks of a stream in
THE BOUNDARY BONGA 397
another village and there it stopped. Then they sacrificed
the rams and uttering vows over the nails drove them
into the peepul tree and went home, turning the heifer
loose. From that time their troubles ceased.
But that evening a man driving his cattle home saw
a young woman nailed to the peepul tree; and not
knowing that she was a bonga he released her and took
her home and married her.
PART V.
The legends and customary beliefs contained in this
part are definitely connected with the Santals.
CLX. THE BEGINNING OF THINGS.
In the days of old, Thakur Baba haid made everything
very convenient for mankind and it was by our own
fault that we made Thakur Baba angry so that he swore
that we must spend labour in making things ready
for use.
This is the story that I have heard.
When the Santals Uved in Champa and the Kiskus
were their kings, the Santals were very simple and
religious and only worshipped Thakur. In those days
the rice grew ready husked, and the cotton bushes bore
cloth all ready woven and men did not have to pick
the lice out ot each others' hair; men's skulls grew
loose and each man could lift off his own skull and
clean it and then replace it. But all this was spoilt by
the misdeeds of a serving girl of one of the Rajas.
When she went into the field for purposes of nature
she would at the same time pick and eat the rice that
grew by her; and when she had made her hands dirty
cleaning out a cow house she would wipe them on the
cloth which she was wearing. Angered by these dirty
habits Thakur Baba deprived men of the benefits which
he had conferred upon them and the rice began to grow
in a husk and the cotton plants only produced raw
cotton and men's skulls became fixed so that they could
not be removed.
In those old days too the sky was quite close to the
earth and Thakur Baba used to come and visit men in
their houses. So it was a saying among our fcifefathers
«' Do not throw your dirty leaf plates near the front or
back door and do not let your brass plates and dishes
26
402 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
remain unwashed at night; for if Thakur Baba come
along and see them so, he will not come into the house
but will be angry and curse us." But one day a woman
after finishing her meal threw the used leaf plate out
of the door, and a gust of wind carried it up to the
sky; this displeased Thakur Baba and he resolved no
longer to dwell in the neighbourhood of men as they
were so ill-mannered as to throw their dirty leaf plates
at him and so he lifted the sky to its present height
above the earth.
To this day men who have heard of this scold those
who throw their refuse into the street and bid them
heap it up in some out-of-the-way place.
The misdeeds of men at length made Thakur Baba
so angry that he resolved to destroy them all. Now
Thakur Baba is Sing Chando or the Sun, and the Moon
is his wife: and at first there were as many stars by
day as there are by night and they were all the children
of the Sun and Moon who had divided them between
them. So Sing Chando having rssolved to destroy
mankind blazed with a fierce heat till man and beast
writhed under the torture of it. But when the Moon
looked down and saw their sufferings she was filled with
pity and thought how desolate the earth would be
without a living being on it. So she hastened to Sing
Chando and prayed him not to desolate the earth; but
for all her beseeching the utmost that she could obtain
was a promise from her Lord that he would spare one
or two human beings to be the seed of a future race.
So Sing Chando chose out a young man and a young
woman and bade them go into a cave in a hill side
and close the mouth of the cave with a raw hide and
when they were safely inside he rained fire from heaven
and killed every other living being on the earth.
Five days and five nights it rained fire and the man
and woman in the cave sang — (to the Baha tune)
THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 403
"Five days and five nights the fire will rain, ho!
Five days and five nights, all night long, ho!
Where will you two human beings stay?
Where will you two take shelter?
There is a hide, a hide:
There is also a hill:
There is also a cave in the rockl
There will we two stay:
There will we two take shelter."
When they came out of the cave the first thing they
saw was a cow lying burnt to death with a karke tree
fallen on the top of it and near it was lying a buffalo
cow burnt to death; at the sight they sang: —
"The cow is glowing cinders, glowing cinders:
The karke tree is burnt:
The buffalo cow has fallen and has been burnt
to ashes, to ashes."
And as they went on, they sang a similar lament over
the remains of each living being as they saw it.
Although these two had been spared to raise up a
new race, Ninda Chando, the Moon, feared that the Sun
would again get angry with the new race and destroy
it; and so she made a plan to trick him. She covered
up all her children with a large basket and smeared
her mouth and lips with red and going to Sing Chando
told him that she had eaten up every one of her children
and proposed that he should now eat up his. At first
Sing Chando declined to believe her but she pointed to
her lips and said that they were red with the blood of
the children; so Sing Chando was convinced and agreed
to eat up his children except two whom he would keep
to play with. So they devoured all but two and the
two that were saved are the morning and evening stars.
Thus Sing Chando was deprived of the power to again
burn up the earth ; but when that night Ninda Chando
let out her own children from under the basket she
warned them to beware of the wrath of their father
404 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
when he found out the trick that had been played him.
When Sing Chando saw Ninda Chando's children still
alive he flew to her in a passion and the children at
the sight of him scattered in all directions and that is
why the stars are now spread all over the sky; at first
they were all in one place. Although the stars escaped,
Sing Chando could not restrain his wrath and cut Ninda
Chando in two and that is why the Moon waxes and
wanes; at first she was always full like the sun.
Some men say that the man and woman whom Thakur
hid in the cave were Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Budhi and
they had twelve sons and twelve daughters and mankind
is descended from them and has increased and filled the
earth ; and that it was in that country that we were divided
into twelve different races according to the food which our
progenitors chose at a feast.
CLXL CHANDO AND HIS WIFE.
Once upon a time Chando went to the hills to fashion
a plough out of a log of wood ; and his wife was left at
home alone, Chando was so long in coming back that
his wife grew impatient; so she made some mosquitos
and sent them to worry him and drive him home. But
Chando made some dragon-flies and tliey ate up the
mosquitos and he went on with his work. His wife
made various other animals and sent them out, but
Chando destroyed them all. At last she made a tiger
and sent it to frighten him home; but Chando took up
a handful of chips from the log he was cutting and
threw them at the tiger and they turned into wild dogs
and chased the tiger away. Ever since that no tiger
will face wild dogs.
Then Chando's wife shut up a locust in an iron pot
and when Chando at last came home she asked him
"Why have you been so long? Who is to give food
THE SIKHAR RAJA 405
and drink to all the living creatures if you don't attend
to business." Chando answered that he had fed them all.
"No you have not, you have not fed the locust!"
"But I have" said Chando.
Then she took the lid off the iron pot and showed
him the locust eating grass inside; and Chando had
nothing to say.
CLXII. THE SIKHAR RAJA.
Santals say that the Sikhar Raja was a btinga and
this is the story they tell about him. A certain woman
was with child but could not say by whom she was
pregnant so she fled into the jungle and at the foot of
a clump of bamboos gave birth to twins, a boy and a
girl; and then went home leaving the children lying in
the jungle. The children lay there crying very pitifully.
Now a herd of wild bison was grazing in the jungle
and they heard the crying and one of the cows went
to see what was the matter and took pity on the children
and suckled them. Every day she came three times and
fed them; and under her care the children grew up
strong and healthy. If any man came to hunt in the
jungle the bison-cow used to attack him and drive him
away; she used to bring the bows and arrows which
the hunters threw away in their flight to the boy that
he might learn how to shoot. And when any basket
makers passed by the jungle on their way to market
to sell their wares she used to charge out at them and
then bring to the girl the winnowing fans and baskets
they threw down in their fright, so that she might learn
to sift rice.
Thus the children prospered ; and the boy was named
Harichand and he and his sister looked like gods. When
they grew up they married each other and then the bison-
cow left them. Then Thakur sent from heaven sixteen
4o6 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
hundred gopinis and the gopinis said that Harichand
and his wife should be king and queen in that land of
Sikhar. Then they took counsel together as to where
the royal fort should be. Three scribes sat down to study
the books with Harichand and his wife in their midst;
on the right sat the scribe Hikim, and on the left the
scribe Bhuja and the scribe Jaganath opened the book
to see where the fort should be ; and all the gopinis
sat round in a circle and sang while the book was read.
''Raja Harichand of the Sikhar stock, of Jhalamala,
Where is his abode 1
Raja Harichand of the Sikhar stock, of Jhalamala,
In the bamboo clump is his abode 1"
" Raja Harichand of the Sikhar stock of Jhalamala
In the banyan-tree field in his abode!
Raja Harichand, of the Sikhar stock, of Jhalamala,
In the brinjal corner is his abode."
And they found in the book that the fort should be
in Pachet hill; then they sang in triumph: —
"It will not do, O Raja, to build a fort here:
We will leave Paras and build a fort on Pachet hill:
There in the happy Brinda forest."
Then they brought the Raja and Rani from the jungle
to Pachet and on the top of the Pachet hill a stone
fort sprang up for them ; and all the country of Sikhar
acknowledged their sway. After that the Santals made
their way from Champa and dwelt in Sikhar and cleared
all the jungle in it and abode there many years. They
called the Sikhar Raja a bonga because no one knew
his father or mother. Under Raja Harichand the Santals
were very contented and happy, and when he celebrated
the Chatar festival they used to sing this song, because
they were so contented: —
"Harichand Raja was born of a bison-cow,
Sirguja Rana was born of a snake."
THE ORIGIN OF TOBAGCO 407
CLXIII. THE ORIGIN OF TOBACCO.
This is the way that the chewing tobacco began.
There was once a Brahmin girl whose relations did not
give her in marriage and she died unmarried. After
the body had been burned and the people had gone
home, Chandu thought "Alas, I sent this woman into
the world and she found favour with no one; well, I
will confer a gift on her which will make men ask for
her every day," So he sowed tobacco at the burning
place and it grew up and flourished. And there was a
boy of the cowherd caste who used to graze his cattle
about that place; he saw his goats greedily eating the
tobacco leaf arid he wondered what the leaf was and
tasted a bit but finding it bitter he spat it out. Some
time after however he had tooth-ache and having tried
many remedies in vain he bethought himself of the bitter
tobacco and he chewed some of that and kept it in his
mouth and found that it cured the tooth-ache ; from that
time he formed the habit of chewing it. One day he
saw some burnt bones or lime and he picked up the
powder and rubbed it between his fingers to see what
it was and after doing so he ate some tobacco and found
that the taste was improved, so from that time he always
chewed lime with the tobacco. He recommended the
leaf to other men who had jtooth-ache and they formed
the habit of chewing it too and called it tobacco; and
then men who had no tooth-ache took to it ; and acquired
a craving for it. This is the way tobacco chewing began,
as our forefathers say.
CLXIV. THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.
All the cats of Hindus have believed and believe,
and the Santals also have said and say, that Thakur
4o8 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
made the land and sky and sea and man and animals
and insects and fish and the creation was complete and
final: he made their kinds and castes once for all and
did not alter them afterwards ; and he fixed the time of
growth and of dwelling in the body ; and for the flowers
to seed and he made at that time as many souls as
was necessary and the same souls go on being incarnated
sometimes in a human body and sometimes in the body
of an animal; and so it is that many human beings
really have the souls of animals ; if a man has a man's
soul he is of a gentle disposition; but if he gets the
soul of a dog or cat then he is bad tempered and
ready to quarrel with everyone ; and the man with a
frog's soul is silent and sulky and those who get tiger's
souls when they start a quarrel never give up till they
gain their point. There is a story which proves all this.
There was once a Brahman who had two wives and
as he knew something of herbs and simples he used to
leave his wives at home and go about the country as
a quack doctor; but whenever he came home his two
wives used to scold him and find fault with him for no
reason at all till they made his life a burden. So
he resolved to leave two such shrews and one day when
they had been scolding as usual he put on the garb of a
jogi and in spite of their protests went out into the world.
After journeying two or three days he came to a
town in which a pestilence was raging and he sat
down to rest under a tree on the outskirts. There lie
noticed that many corpses had been thrOwn out and he
saw two vultures fly down to feed on the bodies; and
the he-vulture said to his mate " Which corpse shall we
eat first?" Now the Brahman somehow understood the
language of the birds — but the mate returned no answer
though the he-vulture kept on repeating the question;
at last she said "Don't you see there is a man sitting
at the foot of the tree.?" Then they both approached
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS 409
the Brahman and asked why he was sitting in such a
place and whether he was in distress; he told them that
trouble had driven him from his home and that he was
wandering about the world as chance led him, because
the continual quarrelling of his two wives was more
than he could bear. The vultures said " We will give
you a means by which you may see your wives as they
really are" and one £»f them pulled out a wing feather
and told him when he went to any house begging to
stick it behind his ear and then he would see what
the people were really like; and they advised him to
marry a woman who gave him alms with her hands.
Then he got up and went away with the feather, leav-
ing the birds to prey on the corpses.
When the Brahman came to a village to beg he saw
by the aid of the feather, that some of the people were
really cats and some were dogs and other animals and
when they gave him alms they brought it in their teeth;
then he made up his mind to go home and see what
his wives really were; and he found that one was a
bitch and one was a sow ; and when they brought him
water they carried the cup in their months ; at this sight
he left the house again in disgust, determined to marry
any woman who offered him alms with her hands.
He wandered for days till at last the daughter of a
Chamar, when he begged, brought him alms in her
hands; and he at once determined to sta:y there and
marry her at all costs; so he sat down and when the
Chamar asked why he did not go away he said that
he meant to marry the girl who had given him alms
and live in his house as his son-in-law ; the Chamar
did all he could to remonstrate at such an extraordinary
proposal as that a Brahman should destroy his caste
by marrying a Chamar; the Brahman said that they
might do what they liked to him but that he would
not leave till he obtained his bride. So at last the
410 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Chamar called in his castefellows and relations to advise
him whether he would be guilty of any sin in yielding
to the proposal of the Brahman; and they called into
council the principal villagers of %11 the other castes
and after fully questioning the Chamar and the Brahman
the judgment of the villagers was that the marriage
should take place and they would take the responsibil-
ity. Then the Brahman was made to give a full account
of himself and where he had come from, and when
this was found to be true, the bride price was fixed
and paid and the marriage took place and the Brahman
became a Chamar.
CLXV. THE NEXT WORLD.
This is what the Santals say about the next world.
After death men have a very hard time of it in the
next world. Chando bonga makes them work terribly
hard ; the woman have to pound the fruit of the castor
oil plant with a pestle ; and from the seeds Chando
bonga makes human beings. All day long they have
to work; those women who have babies get a little
respite on the excuse of suckling their babies ; but those
who have no children get no rest at all ; and the men are
allowed to break off to chew tobacco but those who
have not learnt to chew have to work without stopping
from morning to night. And this is the reason why
Santals learn to chew tobacco when they are alive ;
for it is of no use to merely smoke a huka : in the
next world we shall not be allowed to knock off work
in order to smoke. In the next world also it is very
difficult to get water to drink. There are frogs who
stand on guard and drive away any who comes to the
water to drink ; and so when Satals die we send drinking
vessels with them so that they may be able to run
quickly to the water and fill the vessels and get away
AFTER DEATH 411
before they are stopped. And it is said that if a man
during his lifetime has planted a peepul tree he gets
abused for it in the next world and is told to go and
pick the leaves out of the water which have fallen into
it and are spoiling it and such a man is able to get
water to drink while he is picking the leaves out of it;
but whether this is all true I cannot say.
CLXVI. AFTER DEATH.
When grown-up people die they become ancestral
bongas and sacrifices are offered to them at the Flower
and Sohrai festivals ; and when children die they become
bhuts. When a pregnant woman dies, they drive long
thorns into the soles of the feet before the body is
burned for such women become churins. The reason
of this is that when the churin pursues any one the
thorns may hurt her and prevent her from running fast :
and so the man who is pursued may escape ; for if the
churin catches him she will lick all the flesh off his
bones ; they especially attack the belly and their tongues
are very rough.
There was once a man who had been to get his
ploughshare sharpened by the blacksmith and as he
was on his way home it came on to rain, so he took
shelter in a hollow tree. While he was waiting for the
weather to clear he saw a churin coming along singing
and she also came to take shelter in the same tree.
Fortunately she pushed in backwards and the man
took the ploughshare which was still nearly red hot
and pressed it against her back; so she ran away
screaming and he made good his escape in the other
direction ; otherwise he would assuredly have been licked
to death.
412 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CLXVIL HARES AND MEN.
In former days hares used to eat men and a man
presented himself before Thakur and said " O Father,
these hares do us much damage ; they are little animals
and hide under leaves and then spring out and eat us;
big animals we can see coming and can save ourselves.
Have pity on us and deliver us from these little animals."
So Thakur summoned the chief of the hares and fixed
a day for hearing the case; and when the man and
the hare appeared he asked the hare whether they ate
men and the hare denied it and asserted on the con-
trary that men ate hares ; but the man when questioned
denied that men killed hares. Then Thakur said "O
hare and man, I have questioned you both and you
give contradictory answers ; and neither admits the
charge ; the matter shall be decided in this way ; you,
hare, shall watch a Kita tree and if within a year you
see a leaf fall froni the tree you shall be allowed to
eat men ; and you, man, shall watch a Korkot tree and
if you see a leaf fall, then men shall be allowed to
eat hares. Begin your watch to-day and this day next
year bring me your leaves." So the man and the hare
departed and each sat under a tree to see a leaf fall but
they watched and watched in vain until on the last day
of the year a korkot leaf fell and the man joyfully
picked it up and took it to Thakur; and the hare
failing to see a leaf fall bit off a leaf with its teeth and
took it to Thakur. Then Thakur examined the two
leaves and said to the hare, "This leaf did not fall of
itself; see, the tip of the stalk is quite different from
the stalk of the leaf this man has brought ; you bit it
off." And the hare was silent. Then Thakur rubbed
the legs of the hare with a ball of cleaned cotton and
passed this sentence on him, that thenceforward he
A LEGEND 413
should skip about like a leaf blown by the wind and
that men should hunt hares wherever they found them
and kill and eat them, entrails and all.
And this is the reason why Santals do not clean the
hares they kill, but eat them entrails and all.
CLXVili. A LEGEND.
Once upon a time a woman was found to be with
child by her own brother, so the two had to fly the
country. In their flight they came to the Mustard
Tank and Flower Lake, on the banks of which they
prepared to cook their food. They boiled water and
cooked rice in it; and then they boiled water to cook
pulse to eat with the rice. But when the water was
ready they found that they had forgotten to bring any
pulse. While they were wondering what they could get
to eat with their rice they saw a man of the fisher
caste (Keot) coming along with his net on his shoulder.
Then the woman sang —
"The son of a Keot is standing on the bank of the tank:
The fish are jumping : the son of a Keot is catching the fish.',
So the Keot caught them some fish, which they ate
with their rice.
Then they went on and by the side of the road they
saw a date palm the juice of which had been tapped ;
and they wished to drink the juice but they found that
they had brought no drinking vessel with them. The
woman looked about and saw near by a fan palm tree
and she sang —
"The peepul's leaves go flicker, flicker:
The banyan's leaves are thick and fleshy:
Of the fan palm's leaf, brother, make a cup.
And we will drink the juice of the date palm."
So her brother made a drinking vessel of a palm leal
and they drank the date juice and went on their way.
414 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
At nightfall they rested at the foot of a Bael tree and
fell into a drunken sleep from the date juice they had
drunk.
As the woman lay senseless her child was born to
her and no sooner was the child born than a bael fruit
fell on to its head and split it into four pieces which
flew apart and became four hills. From falling on the
new-born child the bael fruit has ever since had a
sticky juice and the tree is covered with thorns which
are the hair of the child. In the morning the man and
woman went on and came to a forest of Tarop trees
and the woman wiped her bloody hands on the Tarop
trees and so the Tarop tree ever since exudes a red
juice like blood.
Next morning they went on and came to a spring
and drank of its water and afterwards the woman bathed
in it and the blood stained water flowed over all the
country and so we see stagnant water covered with a
red scum. Going on from there they reached a low
lying flat and halted ; almost at once they saw a thunder
storm coming up from the South and West; and the
woman sang —
"A storm as black as the so fruit, brother,
Is coming, full of danger for us :
Come let us flee to the homestead of the liquor seller."
But the brother answered —
"The liquor seller's house is an evil house:
You only wish to go there for mischief."
So they stayed where they were and the lightning
came and slew them both.
CLXIX. PREGNANT WOMEN.
Pregnant women are not allowed to go about alone
outside the village; for there are bongas everywhere
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MOON 415
and some of them dislike the sight of pregnant women
and kill thera or cause the child to be born wry-necked.
A pregnant woman may not make a mud fire-place
for if she does her child will be born with a hare-lip;
nor may she chop vegetables during an eclipse or the
same result will follow. She may not ride in a cart,
for if she does the child will be always crying and will
snore in its sleep ; if she eats the flesh of field rats the
child's body will be covered with hair and if she eats
duck or goose fiesh the child will be born with its fingers
and toes webbed. Nor may a pregnant woman look
on a funeral, for if she does her child will always sleep
with its eyes half open.
CLXX. THE INFLUENCE OF THE MOON.
If a child is born on the day before the new moon
the following ceremony is observed. After bathing the
child they place an old broom in the mother's arms
instead of the child; then the mother takes the child
and throws it out on the dung heap behind the house.
The midwife then takes an old broom and an old
winnowing fan and sweeps up a little rubbish on to
the fan and takes it and throws it on the dung hill;
there she sees the child and calls out. "Here is a
child on the dung heap" then she pretends to sweep
the child with the broom into the winnowing fan and
lifts it up and carries it into the house ; and asks the
people of the house whether they will rear it. They
ask what wages she will give them and she promises
to give them a heifer when the child is grown up.
If this is not done the child will be unlucky when it
grows up ; if it is a boy, however often he may marry,
his wife will die and so, if it is a girl, her husbands
will die.
Another fact is that they always shave a child's head
4i6 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
for the first two times during the same moon- if it is
shaved first during one moon and then during the follow-
ing moon ; it will always have a headache once a month.
Similarly when they tie the knots in a string to fix
the date of a wedding the wedding must take place in
the lunar month in which the knots are tied or else
the children born of the marriage will die.
CLXXL ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN.
If a woman has an illegitimate child and from fear
or shame will not name its father the bastard is called
r ■
a child of Chando. At its birth there is no assembly
of the neighbours; its head is not ceremonially shaved
and there is no narta ceremony. The midwife does
what is necessary; and the child is admitted into no
division of the tribe. If it is a boy it is ca,lled Chandu
or Chandrai or sometimes Birbanta and if a girl Chandro
or Chandmuni or perhaps Bonela. Sometimes after the
child is born the mother will under seal of secrecy tell
its father's name to her mother or the midwife; and
then between themselves they will call the child by a
name taken from the father's family but they will never
tell it to anyone else. When the child grows up he is
given some nickname and if he turns out well and is
popular his name is often changed again and he is
recognised as a Santal.
Often if a father will not acknowledge a child the
mother will strangle it at birth and bury the body.
Men who practise sorcery dig up the bones of such
murdered infants and use them as rattles when doing
their sorceries and are helped by them to deceive people.
CLXXII. THE DEAD.
Santals are very much afraid of burial grounds ; for
dead men become bongas and bongas eat men. If a
HUNTING CUSTOM 417
man meet such a honga in a burial ground it is of
little use to fight for the bonga keeps on changing his
shape. He may first appear as a man and then change
into a leopard or a bear or a pig or a cat: very few
escape when attacked by such a being.
It is said that the spirits of young children become
bhuts and those of grown-up people bongas and those
of pregnant women churins.
[CLXXIII. HUNTING CUSTOM.
Formerly when the men went to a hunt the mistress
of the house would not bathe all the time they were
away and when the hunters returned she met them at
the front door and washed their feet and welcomed them
home. The wife of the dehri used to put a dish of
water under her bed at jiight and if the water turned
red like blood they believed that it was a sign that
game had been killed.
27
P A R T V I.
The belief in witchcraft is very real to the present
day among the Santals. All untimely deaths and illness
which does not yield to treatment are attributed to the
machinations of witches, and women are not unfrequently
murdered in revenge for deaths which they are supposed
to have caused, or to prevent the continuance of illness
for which they are believed to be responsible.
The Santal writer in spite of his education is a firm
believer in witchcraft, and details his own experiences.
He has justification for his belief, for as was the case
in Mediaeval Europe, women sometimes plead guilty to
having caused death by witchcraft when there appears
to be no adequate motive for a confession, which must
involve them in the severest penalties.
Mr. Bodding is aware that Santal women do actually
hold meetings at night at which mantras and songs are
repeated, and at which they may believe they acquire
uncanny powers ; the exercise of such powers may also
on occasion be assisted by the knowledge of vegetable
poisons.
The witch may either herself cause death by ' eating,'
or eating the liver of, her victim, or may cause her familiar
"bonga" to attack the unfortunate. That witches eat
the liver is an old idea in India mentioned by the
Mughal historians.
The Jan guru is employed to detect who is the woman
responsible for any particular misfortune. His usual
method is to gaze on a leaf smeared with oil, in which
as in a crystal he can doubtless imagine that shapes
present themselves. The witch having been detected,
she is liable to be beaten and maltreated until she
withdraws her spells, and if this does not lead to the
desired result she may be put to death.
CLXXIV. WITCHCRAFT.
The higher castes do not believe in witchcraft. If a
man is ill they give him medicines and if he dies in
spite of the medicine they do nothing further. But all
the lower castes believe in witchcraft and know that it
is a reality. The Santal women learnt the craft first
from Marahg Burn by playing a trick on him when he
meant to teach their husbands. And now they take
quite little girls out by night and teach them so that
the craft may not die out.
We know of many cases to prove that witchcraft is
a reality. Pirthi who lives in Pankha's house was once
ill: and it was an aunt of his who was "eating" hittii
One night as he lay ill the witch came and bent over
him to take out his liver: but he woke up just in time
and saw her and catching her by the hair he shouted
for the people in the house. They and the villagers
came and took the woman into custody. When the
Pargana questioned her she confessed everything and
was punished.
Another time a boy lay ill and senseless. A cowherd
who was driving cattle home at evening ran to the back
of the house where the sick boy lay, after a cow which
strayed there. There he found a woman in a state of
possession (rum) he told the villagers what he had seen
and they caught the woman and gave her a severe
beating : whereupon the sick boy recovered. But about
two months afterwards the cowherd suddenly fell down
dead: and when they consulted a jan as to the reason
he said that it was the witch who had been beaten who
had done it.
422 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
CLXXV. OF DAINS AND OJHAS.
Once upon a time Marang Buru decided that he
would teach men witchcraft. In those days there was
a place at which men used to assemble to meet Marang
Buru and hold council with him: but they only heard
his voice and never saw his face. One day at the
assembly when they had begun to tell Marang Buru of
their troubles he fixed a day and told them to come
to him on it, dressed all in their cleanest clothes and he
would teach them witchcraft.
So the men all went home and told their wives to
wash their clothes well against the fixed day, as they
were going to Thakur to learn witchcraft. The women
of course all began to discuss this new plan among
themselves and the more they talked of it the less they
liked it; it seemed to them that if the men were to
get this new strange power it would make them more
inclined to despise and bully women than ever ; so they
made a plot to get the better of their husbands. They
arranged that each woman should brew some rice beer
and offer it to her husband as he was starting to meet
Marang Buru and beg him to drink some lest his return
should be delayed. They foresaw that the men would
not be able to resist the drink ; and that having started
they would go on till they were dead drunk: it would
then be easy for the women to dress themselves like
men and go off to Marang Buru and learn witchcraft in
place of their husbands. So said, so done ; — the women
duly made their husbands drunk and then put on pagris
and dhoties and stuck goats' beards on their faces and
went off to Marang Buru to learn witchcraft. Marang
Buru did not detect the imposition and according to his
promise taught them all the incantations of witchcraft.
After the women had come home with their new
INITIATION INTO WITCHCRAFT 423
knowledge their husbands gradually recovered their senses
and bethought them of their appointment with Marang
Buru. So they hurried off to the meeting place and
asked him to teach them what he had promised. " Why,
I taught it all to you this morning," answered Marang
Buru, "what do you mean by coming to me again?"
The men could not understand what he meant and
protested that they had not been to him at all in the
morning. "Then you must have told your wives what
I was going to do 1 " This they could not deny: "I
see," said Marang Buru "then they must have played
a trick on you and learnt the mantras in your place."
At this the men began to lament and begged that they
might be taught also: but Marang Buru said that this
was impossible ; he could only teach them a very little ;
their wives had reaped the crop and they could only
have the gleanings; so saying, he taught them the art
of the ojka and in order that they might have the
advantage of their wives in one respect and be able to
overawe them he also taught them the craft of the jan
and with that they had to be content. This is why
only women are witches.
CLXXVI. INITIATION INTO WITCHCRAFT.
When girls are initiated into witchcraft they are taken
away by force and made to lead tigers about. This
makes them fearless. They are then taken to all the
most powerful bongas in succession; and are taught to
invoke them, as school boys are taught lessons, and to
become possessed (rum). They are also taught mantras
and songs and by degrees they cease to be afraid. The
novice is made to come out of the house with a lamp
in her hand, and a broom tied round her waist ; she is
then conducted to the great bongas one of whom approves
of her and when all have agreed she is married to that
424 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
bonga. The bonga pays the usual brideprice and applies
sindur to her forehead. After this she can also marry
a man in the usual way and he also pays the bride
price. When a girl has learnt everything she is made
to take her degree (sid atang) by taking out a man's
liver and cooking it with rice in a new pot; then she
and the young woman who is initating her, eat the feast
together; a woman who has once eaten such a stew is
completely proficient and can never forget what she
has learnt.
This is the way in which girls learn witchcraft; and
if any girl refuses to take the final step and will not
eat men she is caused to go mad or die. Those however
who have once eaten men have a craving for it.
Generally it is only women who are witches; but there
are men who have learnt witchcraft and there are others
who without being initiated have kept company with
vvitches. For instance in Simra village there is Chortha
who was once a servant of the Parganna. He says that
the Parganna's wife used to take him out with her at
night. The women used to sacrifice fowls and goats
and make him skin them and cut them up: he had
then to roast cakes of the flesh and give them to the
Parganna's wife who distributed them among the other
women.
Sometimes also witches take a man with them to their
meetings to beat the drum : and sometimes if a man is
very much in love with a girl he is allowed to go with
them and is taught witchchaft. For instance there was
a man who had a family of daughters and no son and so
he engaged a man servant by the year to work for him.
After being some years in service this man servant
one night was for some reason unusually late in letting
the buffaloes out to graze, and while doing so he saw
all the women of the household assembled out of doors ;
they came up to him and told him not to be afraid and
INITIATION INTO WITCH CRAFT 425
promised to do him no harm provided he told no one
what he had seen. Two or three days later the young
women of the house invited him to go to a witches-
meeting. He went but felt rather frightened the whole
time ; however nothing happened to him, so he got over
his fear and after that he used to go with them quite
willingly and learnt all about witchcraft. At last they
told him that he must sid atang by " eating " a human
being. He objected that he was an orphan and so there
was no relation whom he could eat. This was a difficulty
that seemed insurmountable; and he suggested that he
should be excused the full course and taught only a
little such as how to "eat" fowls. The women agreed
but it was arranged that to deceive people he should
go for two or three days and study with a jan guru
and be initiated by him. Thus it would be thought that
he learnt his magic from the guru but really he learnt
it from the witches who taught him everything except
how to "eat" human beings. He learnt how to make
trees wither away and come to life again ; and to make
rain fall where he wished while any place he chose
remained quite dry ; he learnt to walk upon the surface
of water without getting wet ; he could exorcise hail so
that none would touch his house though it fell all around.
For a joke he could make stools stick fast to his friends
when they sat on them; and anyone he scolded found
himself unable to speak properly. All this we have
seen him do; but it was no one's business to question
him to find out how much he really knew.
Once at the shield and sword dance they cast a spell
on a youth till his clothes fell off him in shreds and he
was ashamed to dance. Then this servant had the
pieces of cloth brought to him; and he covered them
with his own cloth and mumbled some mantras and
blew on it and the pieces joined together and the cloth
was as good as ever. This we have seen ourseUes.
426 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
, He lived a long time with his master who found him
a wife ; but because his first child died he left the place
and went to live near Amrahat where he is now.
Another case is Tipu of Mohulpahari. They say that
an old witch Dukkia taught him to be an ojha. No one
has dared to iask him whether he also learnt witchcraft
from her but he himself admits that she taught him to
be an ojha.
Although it is true that there are witches and that
they "eat" men you will never see them except when
you are alone.
The son-in-law of Surai of Karmatane village, named
Khade, died from meeting witches ; he told us all about it
as he lay dying. He was coming home with some other
men : they had all had a little too much to drink and
so they got separated. Khade was coming along alone
and had nearly reached his house when he saw a crowd
of witches under a tree. He went up and asked who
they were. Thereupon they turned on him and seized
him and dragged him away towards Maluncha. There
they did something to him and let him go. Next
morning he was seized with purging and by mistake
some of the witches' vengeance fell also on the other
men and they were taken ill too. They however recovered,
but Khade died. If you meet witches you die, but not
of course if they take you with them of their own will
and teach you their craft.
CLXXVIL WITCHCRAFT.
Girls are taught witchcraft when they are young and
are married to a bonga husband. Afterwards when they
marry a man they still go away and visit the bonga and
when they do so they send in their place a bonga woman
exactly like them in appearance and voice; so that the
husband cannot tell that it is not his real wife. There
WITCH STORIES 427
is however a way of discovering the substitution ; for if
the man takes a brand from the fire and burns the
woman with it, then if it is really a bonga and not his
wife she will fly away in a flame of fire.
CLXXVIII. WITCH STORIES.
I will now tell you something I have seen with my
own eyes. In the village of Dhubia next to mine the
only son of the Paranik lay ill for a whole year. One
day I went out to look at my rahar crop which was
nearly ripe and as I stood under a mowah tree I heard
a voice whispering. I stooped down to try and see
through the rahar who was there but the crop was so
thick that I could see nothing; so I climbed up the
mowah tree to look. Glancing towards Dhubia village
I saw the third daughter of the Paranik come out of
her house and walk towards me. When about fifty yards
from me she climbed a big rock and waited. Presently
an old aunt of hers came out of the village and joined
her. Then the old woman went back to her house and
returned with a lota of water. Meanwhile the girl had
come down from the rock and sat at its foot near a
thicket of dhela trees. The old woman caused the girl
to become possessed (rum) and they had some conver-
sation which I could not hear, Then they poured out
the water from the lota and went home.
On my way home I met a young fellow of the village
and found that he had also seen what the two women
did. We went together to the place and found the
mark of the water spilled on the ground and two leaves
which had been used as wrappers and one of which was
smeared with vermilion and adwa rice had been scattered
about. We decided to tell no one till we saw whether
what had been done was meant to benefit or unjure the
sick boy. Fifteen days later the boy died: and when
428 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
his parents consulted a jan he named a young woman
of the village as the cause of the boy's death and she
was taken and punished severely by the villagers.
It is plain that the boy's sister and aunt in order to
save themselves caused the j'an to see an innocent woman.
I could not bring the boy back to life so it was useless
for me to say anything, especially as the guilty women
were of the Paranik's own family. This I saw myself
in broad daylight.
Another thing that happened to me was this. I had
been with the Headman to pay in the village rent. It
was night when we returned and after leaving him I was
going home alone. As I passed in front of a house a
bright light suddenly shone from the cowshed ; I looked
round and saw a great crowd of women-witches standing
there. I ran away by the garden at the back of the
house until I reached a high road; then I stopped and
looked round and saw that the witches were coming
after me; and looking towards the hamlet where my
house was I saw that witches were coming with a bright
light from that direction also. When I found myself
thus hemmed in I felt that my last hour had come but
I ran on till I came to some jungle.
Looking back from there I saw that the two bands had
joined together and were coming after me. I did not feel
safe there for I knew that there were bongas in the jungle
who might tell the witches where I was. So I ran on to
the tola where an uncle and aunt of mine lived. As I
ran down the street I saw two witches at the back of
one of the houses. They were sitting down; one was
in a state of possession (rum) and the other was opposite
her holding a lamp. So I left the street and made my
way through the fields till I came to my uncle's house.
I knocked and was admitted panting and breathless;
my uncle, and aunt went outside to see what.it was that
had scared me and they saw the witches with the two
WITCH STORIES 429
lights flashing and made haste to bolt the door. None
of us slept for the rest of the night and in the morning
I told them all that had happened.
Since that night I have been very frightened of witches
and do not like to go out at night. It was lucky that
the witches did not recognise me ; otherwise I should
not have lived. Ever since I have never stayed at home
for long together; I go there for two or three months
at a time and then go away and work elsewhere. I am
too frightened to stay in my own village. Now all the
old women who taught witchcraft are dead except one :
when she goes I shall not be frightened any more. I
shall be able to go home when I like. I have never
told any one but my uncle and aunt what I saw until
now that I have written it down.
So from my own experience I have no doubt about
the existence of witches; I cannot say how they "eat"
men, whether by magic or whether they order " bongas"
to cause a certain man to die on a certain day. Some
people say that when a witch is first initiated she is
married to a bonga and if she wants to "eat" a man
shie orders her bonga husband to kill him and if he
refuses she heaps abuse on him until he does.
CLXXIX. WITCH STORIES.
Young girls are taught witchcraft against their wills
and if they refuse to "eat" their father or brother they
die or go mad. There was a girl in my own village
and she went out gathering herbs with another girl who
was a witch. As usual they sang at their work and the
witch girl sang songs the. tune of which the other thought
so pretty that she learnt them by heart. When she had
learnt them the witch girl told her that they were witch
songs and explained to her their meaning. The girl was
very angry at having been taught them unaware? but the
43Q FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
witch girl assured her that she would never be able to
forget the songs or their interpretation ; then she assigned
her to a bonga bridegroom and then told her to sid atang
and all would be well with her otherwise she would have
trouble.
When the girl learnt that she must sid atang by
"eating" her father or brother or mother she began
to make excuses; she could not kill her father for he
was the support of the family ; nor her only brother for
he was wanted too at the Baha and Sohrai nor her
mother who had reared her in childhood. The witch
girl said that if she refused she would die ; and she said
that she would rather die than do what was required of
her. Then the witch did something and the girl began
to rave and talk gibberish and from that time was quite
out of her senses. Ojhas tried to cure her in vain until
at last one suggested that she should be taken to another
village as the madness must be the work of witches
living in her own village. So they took her away and
the remedies then cured her. She stayed in her new
home and was married there. A long time afterwards
she went back to pay a visit to her father's house : but
the day after she arrived her head began to ache and
she fell ill and though her husband came and took her
away she died the day after she reached her home.
There was another girl ; her friends noticed that when
she came home with them in the evening after planting
rice she was very careful not to fall behind or be left
alone and they used to laugh at her for being a coward.
But one day she was gathering Indian corn with a friend
and as they talked she said " You will all have lovely
dancing at the Sohrai." " You 1 " said her friend : " won't
you be there? Are you going away?" Then the girl
began to cry and sobbed out that her mother had taught
her witchcraft and married her to a bonga\ and it was
for fear of the bonga that she did not like to be alone
WITCH STORIES 431
in the dark; and because she had refused to "eat"
anyone her mother intended to "eat" her and so she
had no hope of living to see the Sohrai. Three days
later the girl fell ill and died, and after her death her
friend told how she had foreseen it.
CLXXX. WITCH STORIES.
In the village of Mohulpahari there was a youth named
Jerba. He was servant to Bepin Tell of Tempa and
often had to come home in the dark after his day's
work. One night he was coming back very late and,
before he saw where he was, suddenly came upon a
crowd of witches standing under a hollow mowah tree
at the foot of the field that the dhobie has taken. Just
as he caught sight of them they seized hold of him and
flung him down and did something which he could not
remember — for he lost his senses when they threw him
down. When he came to himself he managed to struggle
free and run off. The witches pursued but failed to
overtake him and he reached his home in a state of
terror. The witches however had not finished with him
for two or three days after they caused him to fall from
a tree and break his arm. Ojhas were called in but
their medicines did him no good. The arm mortified
and maggots formed and in a few days Jerba himself
told them that he would not recover ; he told them how
the witches chased him and that he had recognised them
as women of his own village and shortly afterwards he
became speechless and died.
My own brother-in-law lived at Mubundi. One night
he and several other men were sitting up on the thresh-
ing-floor watching their rice. In the middle of the night
they saw lights shining and flickering in the courtyard
of my brother-in-law's house and he went to see what
was the matter. When he got near, the lights went into
432 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
the house : he went up quietly and as he looked in found
the house full of women who extinguished the light directly
they saw him and rushed out. of the house. Then he
asked my sister what the light was; but she could only
stammer out "What light? I saw no light," so he struck
her a blow and went back to the threshing-floor and
told the others what he had seen. That night he would
not tell them the names of the women he had seen ;
and before morning his right arm swelled and became
very painful; the swelling quickly increased and by noon
he lost consciousness and a few hours later he died.
CLXXXL THE TWO WITCHES.
There were once a woman and her daughter-in-law
who were both witches. One night during the annual
Sohrai festival the men of the village were going from
house to house singing and getting rice beer to, drink ; and
one young man named Chandrai got so drunk that when
thfey came to the house where the two witch-women
lived he rolled himself under the shelf on which rice
was stored and fell asleep. Next morning he came to
his senses but he did not like to come out and show
himself for fear of ridicule so he made up his mind to
wait till a party came round singing again and then to
slip out with them unperceived.
He lay waiting and presently all the men of the
house went away to join in the danka dance; leaving
the mistress of the house and her daughter-in-law alone.
Presently the two began to talk and the elder woman
said " Well what with the pigs and the goats that have
been sacrificed during this Sohrai we have had plenty
of meat to eat lately and yet I don't feel as if I had
had any." "That is so," answered her daughter-in-law ;
"fowls' and pig's flesh is very unsatisfying." "Then
what are we to do ? " rejoined the old woman, " I
THE TWO WITCHES 433
don't kn6# unless you do for the father of your grand-
child." When ht heard this Chandrai shivered with
fright and hid himself further under the rice shelf, for
he saw that the two women must be witches.
That day was the day on which a bullock is tied to
a post outside each house and at noon the husband of
the younger witch began to dig a hole outside the
house to receive the post. While he was working
Chandrai heard the two women begin to talk again.
" Now is your opportunity," said the younger woman,
"while he is digging the hole." "But perhaps the oj'ka
will be able to discover us," objected the other. " Oh
we can prevent that by making the ojAa see in the
oiled leaf the faces of Rupi and Bindi — naming two
girls of the village — and we can say that my husband
had seduced them and then declined to marry them
and that that was why they killed him." The old
woman seemed to be satisfied, for she took up a hatchet
and went out to where her son was digging the hole.
She waited till he bent down to thorw out the earth
with his hands and then cut open his back and pulled
out his liver and heart and brought them into the house.
Her unfortunate son felt a spasm of pain when his
mother struck him but he did not know what had hurt
him and there was no visible wound. The two women
then chopped up the liver and heart and cooked and
ate them.
That night when the village youths came round to
the house, singing, Chandrai slipped out with them
unperceived and hastened home. Two or three days
later the bewitched man became seriously ill ; medicines
and sacrifices did him no good; the oj^as were called
in but could make nothing of the illness. The vil-
lagers were very angry with them for the failure and
the headman told them that they must ascertain by
means of the oiled leaf who had caused the illness,
28
434 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
or it would be the worse for them. So the ojhas went
through their ceremonies and after a time declared that
the oiled leaf showed the faces of the two girls Rupi
and Bindi; and that it was they who were eating up
the sick man. So the two girls were sent for and
questioned but they solemnly swore that they knew
nothing about the matter. No one believed their
protestations and the headman ordered that, filth should
be put into their mouths and that they should be well
beaten to make them confess. Howrever before any
harm was done them Chajidrai sprang up and called
out to the headman : " You have proof that these girls
are witches, but I will not let you beat them here.
Let us take them to yonder open field; the token of
their oath is there and we will make them first remove
it. If we beat them first they will probably refuse to
remove the oath." " How do you know about their
oath?" asked the headman. "Never mind, I do know."
The villagers were convinced by his confident manner
and all went with the two girls to the open field.
Chandrai's object was to get away from the witches'
house for he was afraid to speak there; but when they
were out in the open he stood up and told the villagers
all that he had seen and heard the two witches do;
they remembered that he had been missing for a whole
day during the Sohrai festival and believed him. So
the sick man's wife and mother were fetched and well
beaten to make them restore the sick man to health;
but his liver and heart had been eaten so that the case
was hopeless and in a few days he was dead. His
relations in revenge soon killed the two witches.
Rupi and Bindi whose lives had been saved by Chandrai
went and established themselves in his house, for they
declared that as they owed their lives to him it was
plain that he must marry them.
THE SISTER-IN-LAW WHO WAS A WITCH 433
CLXXXII. THE SISTER-IN-LAW WHO WAS A WITCH.
There were once two brothers who lived together ;
the elder was married but the younger had no wife.
The elder brother used to cultivate their lands and his
wife used to draw water and fetch fuel and the younger
brother used to take the cattle out to graze. One year
when the elder brother was busy in the fields the younger
one used to take his cattle to graze near where his
brother was working and the wife used to bring out
the breakfast for both of them. One day the younger
brother thought he would play a trick on his sistei--in-
law by not answering when she called him to his
breakfast; so when her husband had finished Ws meal
and she called out for the younger brother to come he
gave no answer; she concluded that the cattle were
straying and would not let him come so she took up
her basket and went to look for him; but when he saw
her coming he climbed up a tree and hid himself and
for all her calling gave no answer, but only sat and
laughed at her although she came quite close to where
he was.
At last the woman got into a passion and putting
down the breakfast by the side of a pool which was
close to the tree up which her brother-in-law had
climbed she stripped off her clothes and began bowing
down and calling. " Ho, Dharmal Chandi 1 come forth 1 "
When he saw this the man was amazed and waited to
see whom she was calling, meaning to let her know he
was there directly she turned to go away home with
the breakfast. But the woman kept on calling to Dharmal
Chandi and at last out of the pool appeared an immense
bearded bonga with long and matted hair. When the
woman saw him her tongue flickered in and out like a
snake's and she made a hissing noise, such as a crab
makes. Then the woman began "Dharmal Chandi I
436 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
have a request which you must promise to grant." And
when the bonga had promised she proceeded, "You
niust have my brother^tin-lavir killed by a tiger the day
after to-morrow ; he has put me to endless trouble making
me go shouting ,, after him all through the jungle; I
wanted to go back quickly because I have a lot of work
at home; he has wasted piy time by not answering;
so the day after to-morrow you must have him killed."
The , bonga promised to do what she asked a,nd dis-
appeared into the pool and the woman went home.
While the younger brother was up in the tree his
cattle had got into a gundli field and eaten up the
crpp; and the owner found it out and got the brothers
fined. ;So that evening the elder brother asked him
where he had jbeen that he had not looked after the
cattle properly nor eaten any breakfast. In answer the
younger brother only began to cry; at that his sister-
in-law said. "Let him alone; he is crying for want of
a wife ; he is going silly because we have not married
him;" and so nothing more was said. But the elder
brother was not satisfied and the next day when they
went together to work he asked the younger what was
the real reason for his crying.
Then the younger answered. " Brother, I am in great
trouble ; it makes me cry all day ; if you wish ever to
look on my face again, you must not work in the fields
to-morrow but keep me company while I tend the cattle ;
if we are separated for a moment a tiger will kill me ; it
will be quickly over for me but you I know will miss me
much and so I am grieving for you ; if you have any
tenderness for me do not leave me to-morrow but save me
from the tiger." His brother asked the reason for this fore-
boding but the younger man said that he would explain
nothing and accuse no one until the events of the next
day had shown whether he was speaking the truth; if
a tiger really came to stalk him then that would be
THE SISTER-IN-LAW WHO WAS A WiTCH 437
proof that he had had good reason for his apprehension;
and he begged his brother not to Speak a word about
it to anyone and especially not to his wife.
The elder brother promised to keep the matter a
secret and cheered his brother up and told him to be of
good heart ; they would take thsir bows and axes and he
would like to see the tiger that would touch them. So
the next morning the two brothers Went off together
well armed and tended the cattle in company ; nothing
happened and at mid-day they brought the cattle home ;
when the woman saw them with bows in their hands
she asked where they had been. Her husband told her
that he had been to look for a hare which he had seen
on the previous day but he had not been able to find
it. Then his brother said that he had seen a hare in
its form that very morning but had not had time to
shoot it. So they pretended to arrange to go and hunt
this hare and after having eaten their rice they drove
out the cattle again.
As they went along they kept close together with
their arrows on the string, so that the tiger which came
to stalk the younger brother got no opportunity to
attack; at last it showed itself at the edge of the
jungle; the cattle were thrown into a turmoil and the
brothers saw that it was really following them; and
the elder brother was convinced that there was some
reason for his brother's fears. So they turned the
cattle back and cautiously drove them home, keeping a
good look out all the way; the tiger prowled round
them hiding in the bushes, somletimes in front and
sometimes behind, but found no opening to attack while
thdy for their part did not dare to shoot at it. The
tiger followed them right up to the house; but the elder
brother did not leave the other for a moment nor let
him go outside the door and at night he slept on the
same bed with him.
438 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
The next morning he begged his brother to tell
him all that had happened and explain how he knew
that a tiger would seek his life on the previous day.
"Come then" said the other, "to yonder open ground.
I cannot tell you in the house ; " so they went out
together and then the younger told all that had happened
and how his sister-in-law had ordered the Bonga to have
him killed by a tiger; "I did not tell you before till
my story had been put to the proof for fear that you
would not believe me and would tell your wife; but
now you know all. I cannot live with you any longer ;
from this very day I must go and find a home else-
where. " Not so " said the other, " I will not keep such
a woman with me any longer; she is dangerous; I will
go home now and put her to death," and so saying
he went home and killed his wife with an axe.
CLXXXIIL RAMJIT BONGA.
Once upon a time a man went out to snare quail:
he set his snares by the side of a mountain stream and
then sat down under a bush to watch them. As he
waited he saw a young woman come along with her
water pot under her arm to draw water from the stream.
When she got to the ghat she put down her pot and
made her way up the stream towards where the snares
had been set ; she did not notice the hunter but went to
the stump of an ebony tree near him and looking round
and seeing no one she suddenly became possessed and
started dancing round the ebony tree and singing some
song which he could not clearly catch ; and as she
danced she called out "The Pig's fat is overflowing:
brother-in-law Ramjit come here to me." When she
called out like this the quail catcher quietly crept nearer
still to her. Although the woman repeatedly summoned
him in this way the Bonga would not come out because
RAM J IT BONGA 439
he was aware of the presence of the onlooker; the
woman however got into a passion at his non-appear-
ance and stripping off her clothes she danced naked
round the tree calling out " The Pig's fat is overflowing :
brother-in-law Ramjit come hither at once." At last
out of the nala appeared the bonga, dark, enormous
and shaggy ; and approached the woman : Then the
woman said "Brother-in-law Ramjit there is something
that you must do for me ; my nephew is ill ; he must
die on such and such a day ; that day I must see the
smoke of his funeral pyre ; but you must save me from
the witch-finder ; let the blame fall not on me but on
so and so ; this is what I came to urge on you ; that
you protect me from discovery and then we shall always
to friends."
The Bonga at first knowing that they were being
watched would not make the promise but when the
woman insisted he promised in a low voice and then
disappeared into the nala; and the witch went back to
the ghat, filled her water pot and went home. The quail
catcher also went trembling home and he remembered
the day fixed for the death of the nephew of the witch
and he decided to wait and see what happened before
saying anything to the villagers. Sure enough on the
day before that fixed by the witch the invaUd became
unconscious and was obviously at the point of death.
When he heard this the quail catcher went to the sick
man's bedside and seeing his condition told his relatives
to collect all the villagers to beat the woman whom he
had seen with the Bonga and he told them all that had
pasced; the villagers believed him and summoning all
the women of the village they scolded them ; and then
being excited by this they rose up and began to beat
the women ; to each they gave one blow with a stick,
but the woman whom the quail catcher pointed out
they beat till she fainted.
440 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Then they ordered her to cure the sick man and
threatened to burn her along with him if he died, but
she insisted that she was innocent. Then they told her
that they knew all that had passed between her and
the Bonga Ramjit, she persisted that it was all a mis-
take. So they started to beat her again ; they beat
her from her heels to her neck and then from her neck
down to her heels till the blood flowed and they swore
that they would not let her go unless she cured the
sick man and that if he died they would cut her to
pieces. At last the torture made her confess that it
was she who was eating the sick man; and she pro-
mised to cure him; so they first made her tell the
names of all the other witches in the village and then
tied her to a post and kept her there, and did not untie
her till in four or five days the sick man recovered.
When she was let loose the quail catcher ran away
from the village and would not live there any more.
But the villagers threatened the witch woman that if
her nephew or any of his family got ill again they
would kill her ; and they told her that as her secret
had been found out she was henceforth to be their ojha
and cure their diseases ; and they would supply her with
whatever she wanted for the purpose ; they asked what
sacrifice her nephew must make on his recovery; and
she told them to get a red cock, a grasshopper: a lizard;
a cat and a black and white goat ; so they brought her
these and she sacrificed them and the villagers had a
feast of rice and rice beer and went to their homes and
the matter ended.
CLXXXIV. THE HERD BOY AND THE WITCHES.
Once upon a time a cowherd lost a calf and while
looking for it he was benighted in the jungle; for he
was afraid to go home lest he should be scolded for
THE HERD BOY AND THE WITCHES 441
losing the calf. He had with him his bow and arrows
and flute and a stick but still he was afraid to stay the
night in the jungle; so he made up his mind to go
to the jahirthan as More Turuiko would protect him
there ; so he went to the jahir than and climbed a tree
in which a spirit abode; he took his bow and arrows
up with him but he was too frightened to go to sleep.
About supper time he saw a number of women
who were witches collect from all sides at ^t jahir
than: at this sight he was more frightened than ever;
the witches then called up the bongas and they also
summoned two tigers ; then they danced the lagre dance
and they combed the hair of the two tigers. Then they
also called More Turniko and when they came, one
bonga said "I smell a man" zxxdi More Turniko scoXdeA
him saying " Faith, you smelt nothing until we came ;
and directly we come you say you smell a man; it
must be us you smell " ; and the chief of the bongas
agreed that it must be all right. Then while the women
were dancing the boy took his bow and shot the two
tigers, and the tigers enraged by their wounds fell on
the witches and killed them all ; and then they died
themselves ; and as they were dying they roared terribly
so that the people in the villages near heard them.
When it grew light the boy climbed down and drawing
the arrows from the bodies of the tigers went home.
Then the people asked him where he had spent the
night and he said that he was benighted while looking
for his calf and as he heard tigers roaring near the
jahir than he was frightened and had stayed in the
jungle. They told him that when the tigers began to
roar the calf had come running home by itself and this
was good news to the herd boy. Then he found that
all the children in the village were crying for their
mothers and the men were asking what had become of
their wives ; then the herdboy said that in the night he
442 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
had seen some women going in the direction of the
jahir than but he had not seen them come back and
they had better go and look there. So the villagers
went off and found their wives lying dead by \!iv& jahir
than and the two tigers also dead ; and they knew that
the women must have been witches to go there at night;
so they wept over them and burned the bodies. And
a long time afterwards the boy told them all that he
had seen and done; and they admitted that he had
done right in destroying the witches and that it would
be well if all witches met the same fate.
This story whether true or not is told to this day.
CLXXXV. THE MAN-TIGER.
There was once a young man who when a boy had
learnt witchcraft from some girl friends ; he was married
but his wife knew nothing about this. They lived happily
together and were in the habit of paying frequent visits
to the wife's parents. One day they were on their way
together to pay such a visit and in passing through
some jungle they saw, grazing with a herd of cattle, a
very fine and fat bull calf. The man stopped and
stripped himself to his waist cloth and told his wife to
hold his clothes for him while he went and ate the calf
that had stirred his appetite. His wife in astonishment
asked him how he was going to eat a hving animal;
he answered that he was going to turn into a tiger and
kill the animal and he impressed on her that she must
on no account be frightened or run away and he handed
her a piece of root and told her that she must give it
him to smell when he came back and he would at
once regain his human shape.
So saying he retired into a thicket and took off his
waist cloth and at once became a tiger ; then he
swallowed the waist cloth and thereby grew a fine long
THE MAN-TIGER 443
tail. Then he sprang upon the calf and knocked it over
and began to suck its blood. At this sight his wife
was overwhelmed with terror and forgetting everything
in her fear ran right off to her father's house taking
with her her husband's clothes and the magic root.
She arrived breathless and told her parents all that had
happened. Meanwhile her husband had been deprived
of the means of regaining his own form and was forced
to spend the day hiding in the jungle as a tiger ; when
night fell he made his way to the village where his
father-in-law lived. But when he got there all the dogs
began to bark and when the villagers saw that there
was a tiger they barricaded themselves in their houses.
The man-tiger went prowling round his father-in-law's
house and at last his father-in-law plucked up courage
and went out and threw the root which the wife had
brought under the tiger's nose and he at once became
a man again. Then they brought him into the house
and washed his feet; and gave him hot rice-water to
drink; and on drinking this he vomited up lumps of
clotted blood. The next morning the father-in-law called
the villagers and showed them this blood and told them
all that had happened; then he turned to his son-in-in-
law and told him to take himself off and vowed that his
daughter should never go near him again. The man-
tiger had no answer to make but went back silently
and alone to his own home.
Note : — The following is a prescription for making an
Ulat bag or were-tiger.
" The fibre of a plant (Bauhinia vahli) beaten out and
cooked in mustard oil in a human skull."
GLOSSARY.
Adwa Rice husked without having been boiled.
Arta Red pigment applied to the feet for
ornament.
Baha Porpb . . . The flower festival ; the spring festival
held about February.
Bandi A receptacle for storing grain, made
of straw rope.
Bharia A bamboo carried on the shoulder with
a load slung at each end.
Bhut A ghost, a harmful spirit, .not originally
a Santal word.
Bonga The name for all gods, godlings and
supernatural beings. Sing bonga is the
sun god ; the spirits of ancestors are
bongas, there are bongas of the hills,
streams and the forest ; others are like
fairies and take human form. Sacrifices
are offered to bongas on all occasions.
Brinjal The egg plant.
But Grain, a kind of pulse.
Chamar A low caste, workers in leather.
Chando The sun, the supreme god of the
Santals.
Champa A country in which according to their
traditions, the Santals once lived.
Charak Puja . . The festival at which men are swung
by hooks from a pole.
Chatar A festival at which dancing takes place
round an umbrella.
446 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Chowkidar . ... A watchman.
Churin The spirit of a woman who has died
while pregnant, her feet are turned
backwards. Not originally Santal.
Chumaura .... A ceremony observed at marriage, and
Sohrae festival.
Dain A witch. Witches are supposed to use
their powers to cause sickness and death ;
women accused of witchcraft are often
murdered.
Dehri The president of the annual hunt; he
presides over the Court which during
the hunt hears appeals against unjust
decisions of paganas.
Dewan The chief minister of a Raja.
Dhobi A washerman.
Dhoti The waistcloth worn by men.
Dom A low caste, scavengers, basketmakers
and drummers.
Gantcha A small piece of cloth worn round the
neck, or when bathing.
Gkat The approach to a pool or river at
which people bathe ; the crossing place
of a river.
Ghortnuha .... A horse-headed monster ; not a Santal
name.
Goala A man of the cow keeping caste.
Godet The village constable, the official mes-
senger of the headman.
Goondli. A small millet.
Gosain A religious ascetic, usually of the Vish'-
nuite persuasion.
Gupini A celestial milkmaid, such as those
who danced with Krishna ; not a Santal
creation.
Gur Juice of sugar cane, molasses.
GLOSSARY
447
Hadi A low caste of scavengers.
Jan or Jan guru. A witch finder. When a man is ill the
Jan is consulted as to what witch is
responsible. The Jan usually divines
by gazing at an oiled leaf.
Jahirthan . . . The group of sacred trees left in each
village for the accomodation of the
spirits of the forest when the jungle
is cleared.
Jai tuk A bullock gi(/en to a woman at her
marriage.
yhalka A boastful man.
Jogi or Jugi , . A religious ascetic, a mendicant.
Loia A small brass water pot.
LakA One hundred thousand.
Mahadeo The great god, i.e. Siva.
Mahajan A moneylender.
Mahuli A tribe akin to the Santals, basket
makers by profession.
Malhan A cultivated leguminous plant.
Manjhithan . . . The little pavilion in the centre of every
Santal village at which the spirits of
dead headmen are worshipped and
where village councils are held.
Mantra An incantation, sacred or majic formula.
Marang Bum . . The great spirit, the original chief god
of the Santals.
Marwari A trader from Rajputana and the ad-
joining parts.
Maund A weight, 40 seers or 82 pounds.
Meral A small tree. Phyllanthus emblica.
More Turuiko. . Lit.: The five or six— certain Santal
godlings.
Mowah A tree, Bassia latifolia, the fleshy
flower is eaten and spirit is distilled
from it.
448 FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS
Musahar A semi-aboriginal caste which catches
and eats rats.
Nala . • A water course with steep banks.
Narta The namegiving ceremony observed
three or five days after birth, by which
the child is formally admitted into the
tribe.
Ninda CJiando , The moon godess, wife ofSingchando
the Sun god.
Kat. ....... A dry measure used for grain.
Kisar Bonga. . . A spirit which takes up its abode in
the house, frolicsome and mischievous.
Kisku One of the twelve exogamous septs
of Santals, by tradition it was formerly
the royal sept.
Koeri A cultivating caste of Hindus.
Kora A youth or young man, the hero of
a story is often called so throughout,
and I have for convenience adopted
it as a proper name.
Kos A measure of distance, two miles.
Ojha An exorcist, a charm doctor, one who
counteracts the effects of witchcraft.
Packet A place in the Manbhum district which
the Santals occupied in the course of
their immigrations.
Panchayat .... A council primarily of five which meets
to decide a dispute.
Pagri A cloth worn round the head, a turban.
Paharia A hill man; the Saurias or Male of
the Rajmahal hills.
Pat A wooden or metal measure containing
half a seer.
Pan Betel used for chewing.
Parganna .... A Santal chief having jurisdiction over
a number of villages.
GLOSSARY 449
Paranic The assistant headman of a village.
Parrab A festival.
Peepul or pipal . A tree, ficus religiosa.
Pilchu Haram.
r>-i t r, J, • I The first man and woman
Ptlchu Budht . 1
Rahar A cultivated crop, a kind of pulse.
Raibar A marriage go-between, a man employed
to arrange a marriage.
Rakas An ogre. Sanskrit Rakhshya.
Rum To be possessed, to fall into a cataleptic
state.
Sabat. A kind of grass used for making rope.
Sal A forest tree. Shorea robusta.
Seer A weight, about two pounds.
Sid atang .... To take the final step, to be completely
initiated.
Sing bonga. . . . The Sun god.
Sipahi An armed guard, a soldier, armed
messenger.
Sohrai The great winter festival of the Santals.
Taluq A revenue division of the country.
Tarop tree .... A small tree, Buchanania latifolia.
Ihakur. The supreme Being.
Tika A mark on the forehead, the giving
of which corresponds to coronation.
Tola A hamlet, a detached quarter of a
village.
29
APPENDIX
Introduction.
The Kolhan forms the western half of the district of Singh-
bhum in Chota Nagpur. The Hos or Larka Hos who form
the bulk of the inhabitants are a branch of the Mundas of the
Chota Nagpur Plateau. They are one of those Kolarian tribes
of which the Santals are perhaps the best known. I have
collected some of the Folklore stories current among them,
the recollection of which would, however, appear to be dying out.
The Rev. A. Campbell of the Free Church of Scotland,
Santal Mission, has printed a volume of Santal Folk Tales
collected by him in Manbhum, a neighbouring district to
Singhbhum. As might be expected there is considerable re-
semblance between those Santal Tales and the ones now repro-
duced. I have heard some of Mr. Campbell's Santal stories
told by Hos precisely as he relates them, and there are many
incidents common to both collections. On the other hand there
is no resemblance between these Kolarian tales, and the Bengal
stories published by Rev. Lai Behari De. In the latter I only
notice one incident which appears in the Kolhan stories, the
bringing together of two lovers through a long hair floating
down a stream, but in Bengal it is the lady's hair that floats
to her lover, while in the Kolhan it is always the long hair pi
the hero which inspires love in the heart of the Raja's daughter.
The stories may be divided into two groups, the animal
stories in which the principal characters are animals, for the
most part denizens of the jungles, and the stories which deal
with a settled state of Society with Rajas, priests and members
of the different Hindu castes following their usual occupations.
It is interesting, but perhaps scarcely profitable, to try and
deduce from the latter some hints of the previous history of
the Hos, who, as we know them, are a strongly democratic race,
with a well developed tribal system. They look on themselves
as the owners of the soil and are unwilling to admit the claims
of any overlord.
45^ FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
I have made no attempt to put the following stories into a
literary dress ; I merely bring them as a few stones to the hands
of the builders who build the structure of comparative mythology.
(i)— The River Snake.
Once upon a time a certain woman had been on a visit to
a distant village. As she was going home she reached the
bank of a flooded river. She tried to wade across but soon
found that the water was too deep and the current too strong.
She looked about but could see no signs of a boat or any
means of crossing. It began to grow dark and the woman
was in great distress at the thought that she would not be able
to reach her home.
While she thus stood in doubt, suddenly out of the river
came a great snake an said to her : " Woman, what will you
give me if I ferry you across the river?" She answered:
" Snake, I have nothing to give you." The snake said I cannot
take you across the river unless you promise to give me
something. Now the woman at the time was pregnant and not
knowing what else to do, she promised that when her child
was born, if it were a daughter she would marry her to the
river snake and if it were a son that, when the boy grew up
he should become the "j'uri" or "name friend" of the snake.
The woman swore to do this with an oath and then the snake
took her on his back and bore her safely across the flooded
stream. The woman safely reached her home and in a little
time a daughter was born to her. Years passed away and the
woman forgot all a.bout the snake and her oath. One day she
went to the river to fetch water and the snake came out of
the stream and said to her : " Woman, where is the wife whom
you promised to me?" The woman then remembered her
oath and going back to her house she returned to the river
with her daughter. When the girl came to the bank of the
river the snake seized her and drew her underneath the water
and her mother saw her no more. The girl lived with the
snake at the bottom of the river and in the course of years
bore him four snake sons.
Afterwards the girl remembered her home and one day she
went to visit her mother. Her brothers when they came home
were astonished to see her and said: "Sister, we thought that
you were drowned in the river." She answered: "No, I was
not drowned, but I am married and have children." The
APPENDIX
453
brothers said: "Where is this brother-in-law of ours?" Their
sister said: "Go to the river and call him." So they went to
the river and called and the snake came up out of the water
and went to their house with them. Then they welcomed the
snake and gave him great quantities of rice beer to drink
After drinking this the snake became sleepy and coiling him-
self in great coils went to sleep. Then the brothers who did
not like a snake brother-in-law took their axes and cut off the
head of the snake while he slept, and afterwards their sister
lived in their house.
(2)— The Sons of the Tigress.
Once upon a time a cow and a tigress lived in a jungle and
were great friends, they were never separated. Now in those
days tigers did not eat flesh, but grazed like cattle, so the
tigress never thought of doing any harm to her friend the cow.
The tigress had given birth to two men children who were
growing up fine and sturdy lads. One afternoon the cow and
the tigress went down to a stream to drink, the cow went into
the stream and drank and the tigress drank lower down. The
cow fouled the water of the stream and the tigress tasting the
water found it sweet and thought if the cow can make the
water so sweet how sweet the flesh of the cow must be. So
on the way back from the stream the tigress suddenly sprang
on the cow and killed her and ate her up, leaving nothing but
the bones. When she got home her sons asked her where the
cow was, but the tigress said that she did not know and that
the cow must have deserted them, but afterwards the boys
found the bones of the cow and they guessed what had happened.
Then they thought, if our mother has killed her friend the cow,
she will surely kill and eat us next. So when the tigress was
asleep they killed her with axes. Then they ran away and
after going for many days through the jungle they reached a
city and they found all the people in great distress because a
tiger was devastating the kingdom and killing all the inhabitants
and no one could kill the tiger. The Raja of the city made a
a proclamation that any one who could kill the tiger should
have half the kingdom and his daughter in marriage. The
two boys being the sons of a tigress were able by their know-
ledge of tiger ways to kill the tiger. So they were given half
the kingdom and the elder of them married the king's daughter
and they lived happily ever«after.
454 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
(3)— The Tiger's Marriage.
Once upon a time there lived a Raja who had one son and
many daughters. One day the Raja went into the jungle to cut
grass. He cut a great deal of grass and tied it up in a big
bundle and then he found that he had cut so much that it
was more than he could carry. As he was wondering what he
should do a tiger came by that way and seeing the Raja in
difficulties asked what he could do to help him. The Raja
explained that he had cut a bundle of grass which was too
heavy to carry. The tiger said that he would carry the grass
if he were rewarded for it: the Raja asked him what reward
he wanted. The tiger said that he wished for one of the Raja's
daughters in marriage. The Raja reflected that he had many
daughters and agreed to the proposition. Thereupon the grass
was placed on the tiger's back and he carried it to the Raja's
palace. Now the Raja was ashamed to give his daughter openly
to the tiger so he told the tiger to wait by the water hole, and
sending for one of his daughters bade her go and fetch water;
the girl went to the water hole where the tiger was waiting
and was carried off by the tiger. But the Raja's son missed
his sister and went in search of her. After searching some
time he came to a cave in the jungle and looking in he was
the tiger finishing the remains of the girl whom he had killed.
Then the Raja's son ran home as quickly as he could, and
told the Raja what he had seen.
The next day the tiger came openly to the Raja's palace
and asked to see the Raja. He was taken to the Raja and
treated politely. Then the tiger said to the Raja: "I am sorry
to say that the wife whom you gave me has died, so you must
give me another. * The Raja said he would think about the
matter and invited the tiger to stay at the palace So the tiger
was given a good bed, and quickly went to sleep. In the night
the Raja's son boiled some large vessels of water and poured
the scalding water over the sleeping tiger and killed him. And
in this way the tiger died.
(4) —The Jackal and His Neighbours.
Once upon a time a jackal killed a kid in a village and
taking it to a litde distance began to enjoy a good meal. But
* This is quite in accordance with Ho notions. If a man buys a wife
there is an implied warranty that she is to last a reasonable time. If she
dies shortly after marriage a sister or coifsin has to be given to replace her.
APPENDIX 455
the crows who always make a noise about other people's busi-
ness, gathered in a tree over his head and made a great cawing,
so the villagers went to see what was the matter and beat the
jackal severely and deprived him of his feast. On this account
the jackal was very angry with the crows and determined to
be revenged.
Shortly afterwards a great storm came on with wind and
heavy rain and all the birds and animals were in danger of
being drowned. Then the jackal pretended to be sorry for
the crows and invited them all to come and take shelter in his
house. But when the jackal had got them safely into his house
he killed and ate them all; all except one nilkanth bird which
he decided to keep for his breakfast the next day, so he tied
the nilkanth bird, on to his tail and went away from that part
of the country. But the nilkanth bird pecked and pecked at
the jackal's tail until it not only pecked itself loose but hurt
the tail so much that it became festered and swollen.
As the jackal went along with his swollen tail he met a potter
going to market with earthern pots for sale. Then the jackal
put on a bullying air and said that he was a sipahi of the Raja,
and one pot of those being taken to market must be given to
him; at first the potter refused, but keing frightened he in the
end gave one to the jackal.
Into this the jackal pressed the matter which had accumulated
in his swollen tail and covered it over with leaves. Going on,
the jackal met a boy tending goats, he told the boy that he
had arranged with the boy's father to buy one of the goats in
exchange for a pot of ghee, the boy believed this and took
the chatty with its contents from the jackal and gave him a
fine goat.
The jackal went off to his home in triumph with the goat.
His friends and neighbours were very jealous when they saw
that he had so fine a goat and waiting till his back was turned,
they killed and ate the goat, and then they filled the skin with
stones and gravel so that it might seem that the whole goat
was still there. The jackal found out what his neighbours had
done, and he took the goat skin to a muchi and got the muchi
to make it into a drum. Then he went to the banks of a deep
river and began to play the drum. All the other jackals
collected round and were lost in admiration of the tone of the
drum. They wanted to know where so beautiful a drum was
got, the first jackal said that there were many drums as good
at the bottom of the river, and if they tied stones round their
456 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
necks and jumped in they would find them. So the other
jackals in their anxiety to get such drums jumped into the
river and were drowned, and the jackal was revenged on all
his enemies.
(5)— The Jackal and the Tigers.
Once upon a time a pair of tigers lived in a jungle with
their two cubs, and every day the two tigers used to go out
hunting deer and other animals that they might bring home
food for the cubs, Near the jungle lived a jackal, and he
found it very hard to get enough to live upon; however, one
day he came upon the tiger's den when the father and mother
tiger were out hunting, and there he saw the two tiger cubs
with a large piece of venison which their parents had brought
them. Then the jackal put on a swaggering air and began to
abuse the tiger cubs for having so much venison, saying : " I
am the sipahi of the Raja and the Raja has demanded venison
and none can be found, while low people like you have a fine
piece like this: give it at once or I will take it and report
against you to the Raja." Then the tiger cubs were frightened
and gave up the venison and the jackal went off gleefully and
ate it. The next day the jackal came again and in the same
way took off more meat. The jackal continued taking their
meal from the tiger cubs every day till the cubs became very
thin: the father tiger determined to find out why this was, so
he hid himself in the bushes and watched: he saw the jackal
come and take away the meat from the cubs. Then he was
very angry and ran after the jackal to kill him and the jackal
ran away very fast and the tiger ran after as fast as he could:
at last the jackal ran into a cleft between two rocks and the
tiger running after him stuck fast between the two rocks and
could not come out and so was starved to death. But the jackal
being smaller ran out on the other side.
Then the jackal went back to the tiger's den and told the
tigress that her husband had been caught by the Raja and
thrown into prison for interfering with his sipahi. The tigress
and her cubs were very unhappy at this news for they thought
that they would starve. Then the jackal comforted them and
told them not to be afraid as he would stay with them and,
protect them, and help them with their hunting. So the next
day they all four went hunting. They arranged that the jackal
should wait at a certain place,, while the; tigers beat the jungle
APPENDIX 457
and drove the game towards him. The jackal had boasted
about the amount of game that he could catch and when a
herd of deer broke by him he tried to seize one but they easily
escaped: then the jackal was ashamed but in order not to be
detected he lay down and pretended that he had been suddenly
taken very ill. And when the tigers came up they were sorry
for him and forgave him for catching no game. The next day
it was arranged that the tigress should be in wait and the
jackal and the two young tigers should beat: the tigress soon
killed a fine deer. When the others came up the tigers wanted
to eat it at once, but the jackal would not let them and said
that they must go to a little distance while he did puja to make
the food wholesome. The tigers obeyed and under pretence
of doing puja the jackal ate up all the tit bits and then allowed
the tigers to come and eat the rest. This happened daily and
the jackal lived in comfort all his days.
(6) -The Wild Buffaloes.
There was once a man so poor that he had no land, no
plough and no plough cattle : all that he had was a pair of fine
goats. This man determined to plough with the goats, so he
made a little plough and yoked the goats to it, and with it he
ploughed a piece of barren upland. Having ploughed he had
no seed paddy to sow ; he went to try and borrow some paddy
from the neighbours, but they would lend him nothing. Then
he went and begged some paddy chaff, and a neighbour readily
gave him some. The man took the chaff and sowed it as if it
had been seed. Wonderful to relate from this chaff grew up
the finest crop of paddy that ever was seen. Day by day the
man went and watched with joy his paddy grow and ripen.
One morning when he went to see it he was horrified to find
that in , the night wild buffaloes had come and eaten and
destroyed the whole crop. Having now no other resource the
man determined to follow the wild buffaloes into the jungle:
he readily tracked them and came to a large open space where
every night the wild buffaloes used to sleep. As it was very
dirty he made a broom of twigs and brushed the place clean.
At nightfall he heard the buffaloes coming back and he went
and hid in a hollow tree. When the buffaloes saw how clean
their sleeping place had been made they were very pleased
and wondered who had done it. The next morning the buffaloes
all went away into the jungle to graze, and the man came out
458 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
of his hollow tree and again swept up the place: the buffaloes
on their return saw that the place had again been swept and
decided to leave one of their number to watch and see who
did this. They left a buffalo who was lame to watch: when
the day got hot however the lame buffalo went to sleep, and
the man then came out of his tree and swept up the place
and hid himself again without being discovered. So the next
day the buffaloes left a blind one behind.
The blind buffalo was of very acute hearing and he heard
the man come out and sweep the place and return to the tree -
so when the other buffaloes came back he told them of the
man's hiding place. The buffaloes made him come out and
arranged that they would provide for him if he would stay
with them and sweep their sleeping place daily. The next day
the buffaloes lay in wait for a band of merchants who were
travelling through the forest and suddenly charging down upon
them put the merchants to flight: they fled leaving behind
them all their goods and provisions : these the buffaloes took
on their horns and carried to the man, and in this way they
from time to time supplied Iiim with all he needed. As he
was alone all day they gave him a pair of horns, and said that
wherever he was if he blew on the horns all the buffaloes in
the forest would come to his assistance. But one day when he
was bathing he put the horns down on the bank of the stream
and crows flew away with them and he did not care to tell
the buffaloes that he had lost them.
One day he went to bathe in the river and after bathing he
sat and combed his hair on the bank. Now his hair was so
long that it reached to his knees. One of his long hairs came
out and so he took it and splitting open a ha fruit he coiled
the hair inside and closed the fruit up and then set it to float
down the river. A long way down the stream a Raja's daughter
happened to be bathing and the ha fruit floated past her: she
caught hold of it and when she opened it she found the long
hair inside. At once she went to her father and vowed that
she would marry no one except the man to whom the long
hair belonged. As nothing would alter her determination the
Raja sent men up the river to search for the owner of the long
hair. One of them found the man at the home of the buffaloes
and brought him to the Raja. He was at once married with
great grandeur to the princess and promised the succession to
the kingdom. So our hero began to live in great luxury. One
day as he was standing in the courtyard of the palace some
APPENDIX
459
crows flew overhead and dropped the pair of horns that he
had lost. He picked them up and boasted that if he blew on
them the whole town would be at once destroyed. The by-
standers laughed at him. whereupon he got angry and blew
on the horns. Then there was a great noise and an enormous
herd of wild buffaloes was seen rushing down to destroy the
town. However before they could do any damage he ran out
and assured them that he was unhurt; at this the buffaloes
were pacified; then all the straw and grain in the palace was
brought out and given to the buffaloes to eat: after eating all
they wanted they went back into the jungle, all except one
pair which stayed behind in the palace; and from this pair are
descended all the tame buffaloes which we see to-day.
(7)— The Grateful Cow.
Once upon a time there were two brothers who were very
poor and lived only by begging and gleaning. One day at
harvest time they went out to glean. On their way they came
to a stream with muddy banks and in the mud a cow had
stuck fast and was unable to get out. The young brother
proposed that they should help it out, but the elder brother
objected saying that they might be accused of theft: the younger
brother persisted and so they pulled the cow out of the mud.
The cow followed them home and shortly afterwards produced
a calf. In a few years the cow and her descendants multiplied
in a marvellous manner so that the brothers became rich by
selling the milk and ghi. They became so rich that the elder
brother was able to marry; he lived at home with his wife and
the younger brother lived in the jungle grazing the cattle. The
elder brother's son used every day to take out his uncle's
dinner to the jungle. This was not really necessary for the
cow used to supply her master with all sorts of dainties to eat,
so the younger brother, when his nephew brought out the rice
used to give the boy some of the sweetmeats with which the
cow supplied him, but he charged him not to tell his parents
about this nor to take any home. But one day the boy hid
some of the sweetmeats in his cloth and took them home and
showed them to his mother. His mother had never seen such
sweetmeats before and was convinced that her brother-in-law
wished to poison her son. So she took the sweetmeats away
and the next day she herself took out the dinner to her brother-
in-law and after he had eaten it she said that she would comb
46o FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
his hair and pick out the lice from it; so he put his head on
her lap and as she combed his hair in a soothing way he went
off to sleep. When he was asleep the woman took out a knife
and cut off his head. Then she got up and leaving the head
and body lying at the place went home. But the cow had
seen what occurred and with her horns she pushed the head
along until it joined the neck : whereupon the man immediately
came to life again and learned what had happened to him.
So he drove off all the cattle to a distant part of the jungle
and began to live there.
Every day he milked his large herd of cows and got a great
quantity of milk ; he asked his friend the cow what he was to
do with it and she told him to pour it into a hole in the
ground at the foot of a pipal tree Every day he poured the
milk into the hole and one day as he was doing so out of the
hole came a large snake and thanked him for his kindness in
supplying the milk and asked him what reward he would wish
to receive in return. Acting on a hint from the cow the man
said that he would like to have all the milk back again. Where-
upon the snake vomited up all the milk which it had drunk
and died on the spot. But the milk mingled with poison fell
over the man and imported to his body a glorious and shining
appearance, so that he seemed to be made of fire.
After this the man used every day to go and bathe in a
river, and each day when he bathed he threw one of his hairs
into the water: and his hairs were very long. Lower down
the river a princess used to bathe and one day she saw one
of the hairs come floating down and vowed that she would
marry no one but the owner of the hair. So the father of the
princess sent a Brahman up the river to look for the man with
the long hair. The Brahman was a very thin man with his
ribs showing through his skin. After some days he found our
hero and was amazed at his shining appearance. He told him
that a princess wished to marry him: he was invited to stay
some days; he did so, living on the milk from the herd of
cows and in a short time became very fat. The cow told the
man to take a basket and creep into the hole from which the
snake had come he did so and at the bottom he found a heap
of gold and silver: he filled his basket with this and came back
and gave it all to the Brahman, and told him to go home and
inform his master that he would come in a few days and marry
his daughter. When the Raja saw the gold and silver and how
fat the Brahman had got he was very pleased to think what a
APPENDIX 461
son-in-law lie was getting. In a few days the cow said that it
was time to start and as he had no other conveyance he set
out riding on the cow. When they reached the boundary of
the Raja's kingdom the man woke up one morning and found
that a great retinue of elephants and horses and palkis and
sipahis had appeared during the night. This was owing to the
magic of the cow. So the man mounted an elephant and went
in state to the Raja and married his daughter with great cere-
mony, After staying some days he decided to return home
and started off with his wife and grand retinue. When they
reached the boundary of the kingdom all the elephants and
horses and palkis and sipahis vanished into air, and the prin-
cess found that she and- her husband had nothing but an old
cow to ride upon. At this she was very unhappy but she was
ashamed to go back to her father, so she went on with her
husband and helped to tend the cows in the jungle.
One morning they woke up and found that in the night a
grand palace had sprung up fitted with wealth of every kind,
this was the last gift of the cow which soon afterwards died.
Thus the man became a Raja and founded a kingdom and he
gave a rupee to every one who would come and settle in his
kingdom. Many people came and among others his brother
and sister-in-law who had fallen into great proverty. When
they saw their brother they were afraid and thought that they
would be killed, but he forgave them and gave them clothes
and land and they all lived happily ever after.
(8)— The Belbati Princess.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers the youngest
of whom bore the name of Lita. The six elder brothers were
all married but Lita refused to marry and when questioned he
said that he would not marry any one but the Belbati Princess.
His sisters-in-law laughed very much at the idea that he would
marry -a princess and worried him so much that at length he
decided to set out in search of the Belbati princess. So one
day he started off and after some time came to a jungle in
which was sitting a holy muni. Lita went to him and asked if
he knew where he would find the Belbati-princess. The muni
said that he did not know but that a day's journey farther on
was another muni who might be able to tell him. So Lita
travelled on for a day and found another muni who was m the
midst of performing a three month's spell of fasting and me-
462 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
ditation. Lita had to wait till the muni returned to thoughts
of this world and then made his enquiry. The muni said that
he did not know but that three days' journey farther on was
another muni who might be able to help him. So Lita went
on and found the third muni who was in the midst of a six
months' fast. When this muni came to himself and heard what
Lita wanted he said that he would be very glad to help him.
The Belbati princess was at the time imprisoned in the biggest
bel fruit growing on a bel tree which was guarded by Rakshasas.
If he went and plucked this fruit he would secure the princess,
but if he took any but the biggest fruit he would be ruined.
Lita promised to bear this in mind and then the muni changed
him into a biti bird and told him the direction in which to fly,
Lita flew off and soon came to the tree, which was covered
with fruit; he was very frightened when he saw the Rakshasas
there, so in a great hurry he went and bit off the first fruit that
he came to; but this was not the biggest on the tree and the
Rakshasas immediately fell upon him and ate him up. The
muni, when Lita did not come back, knew that something must
have happened to him so he sent a crow to see what was the
matter. The crow came back and said that one bel fruit had
been picked but that he could not see Lita. Then the muni sent
the crow to bring him the droppings of the Rakshasas. The
crow did so and from the droppings the muni restored Lita to
life. The mu?ti reproved Lita for his failure and told him that
if be wished to make a second attempt he must remember his
behest to pick only the biggest bel fruit. Lita promised and
the muni turned him into a parroquet. In this form Lita again
flew to the bel tree and picked the biggest fruit on the tree.
When the Rakshasas saw the parrot making off with the fruit
they pursued him in fury; but the muni turned the parrot into
a fly so small that the Rakshasas could not see it, so they had
to give up the chase.
When they had departed Lita recovered his own form and
went to the muni with the bel fruit and asked what more was
to be done in order to find the princess. The muni said
that the princess was inside the fruit; that Lita was to take
it to a certain well and very gently break it open against
the edge of the well. Lita hurried off to the well and in
his anxiety to see the princess he knocked the fruit with all
his force and split it suddenly in two. The result of this was
that the princess burst out of the fruit in such a blaze of light
that Lita fell down dead. When the princess saw that her
APPENDIX 463
brightness had killed her lover she was very distressed and
taking his body on her lap she wept over him. While she was
doing so a girl of the Kamar caste came by and asked what
was the matter. The princess said: "My lover is dead, if you
will draw water from the well I will revive him by giving him
to drink," but the Kamar girl at once formed a wicked plan.
She said that she could not reach the water in the well. Then
said the princess: "Do you hold this dead body while I draw
the water." "No,'' said the Kamar girl, "I see you mean to
run away leaving me with the dead body and I shall get into
trouble." Then said the princess : " If you do not believe me
take off my fine clothes and keep them as a pledge." Then
the princess let the Kamar girl take off all her jewellery and
her beautiful dress and went to draw water from the well. But
the Kamar girl followed her and as the princess leant over the
edge she pushed her in, so that she was drowned. Then the
Kamar girl drew water from the well and went back to Lita
and poured some into his mouth, and directly the water touched
his lips he came back to life, and as the Kamar girl had put
on the dress and jewellery of the Belbati princess he thought
that she was the bride for whom he had sought. So he took
her home to his brothers' house and married her.
After a time Lita and his brothers went to hunt in the jungle ;
it was very hot and Lita grew very thirsty; he found himself
near the well at which he had broken the bel fruit and went
to it for water. Looking down he saw floating on the water a
beautiful flower; he was so pleased with it that he picked it
and took it home to his Kamar wife ; but when she saw it she
was very displeased and cut it up into pieces and threw the
pieces out of the house. Lita was sorry and noticed shortly
afterwards that at the place where the pieces of the flower had
been thrown a small bel tree was sprouting. He had this
planted in his garden and carefully watered. It grew well and
after a time it produced ripe fruit. One day Lita ordered his
horse, and as it was being brought it broke loose and run away
into the garden : as it ran under the hel tree one of the bel
fruits fell on to the saddle and stayed there. When the syce
caught the horse he saw this and took the fruit home with him.
When he went to cut open the fruit he found inside it a beautiful
woman; he kept the woman in his house. At this time the
Kamar woman fell ill and was like to die. Lita was very
distressed at the thought of losing his Belbati princess. At
last the Kamarin said that she was being bewitched by the girl
464 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
who was living in the syce's house and that one or other of
them must die. Lita at once ordered the girl to be taken into
the jungle and Mled. Four Ghasis took her away and put her
to death. Her last request to them was that they should cut
off her hands and feet and ptit them at the four sides of her
grave. This they did. After the death of the girl the Kamar
wife recovered her health.
After a time Lita again went hunting and at nightfall came
to the place where the girl had been put to death. There he
found standing a fine palace. He went in but the only living
creatures he saw were two birds who seemed to live there; he
lay down on a bed and went to sleep. While he slept the
birds sat by him and began talking. One told the other the story
of the search for the Belbati princess and how the Kamar girl
had thrown her into the well and taken her place. When Lita
heard this he awoke and was very unhappy. The birds told
him that once a year the Belbati princess visited the pakce in
which he was; her next visit would be in six months. So Lita
stayed there and at the end of the six months he hid behind
the door to await the princess. She came and as she passed
fhrough the door he caught her by the hand, but, she wrenched
herself away and fled. Lita was very depressed but the birds
told him to be more careful the next time. So he waited a
year and when the princess was expected he hid himself: the
princess came and seeing no one entered the palace and went
to sleep. While she slept Lita secured her. They were married
and lived happily eveir after, and the wicked Kamar girl was
put to death.
(9)— The Bread Tree.
There once was a boy who lived with his mother and was
engaged all day in tending cattle. Every morning when he
started his mother gave him two pieces of bread called "hunger
bread" and "stuffing bread,"— one to satisfy hunger with and
the other to over-eat oneself on. One day the boy could not
eat all his bread and he left the piece that remained over on
a rock. When he went back the next day he was surprised
to see that from the piece of bread a tree had grown which
bore loaves of bread instead of fruit. After that the boy no
longer took bread from his mother, but lived on the fruit of
his tree.
One day he had climbed his tree to pick a loaf when an
APPENDIX 465
old woman came by with a bag over her shoulder and saying
that she was very poor begged for a piece of bread. The old
woman was really a RakshasT. The boy was kindhearted and
told her that he would throw her down a loaf, but the old
woman objected that it would get dirty if it fell on the ground.
Then he told her to hold out her cloth and he would throw
it into that : but she said that she could not see well enough
o catch the loaf: he must come down and give it to her: so
he boy came down to give her the loaf and when the Rakshas^
had him on the ground, she seized him and put him in her
bag and went off with him.
After going some way she came to a pool of water and as
she was rather thirsty from carrying such a burden, she put
down her bag and went to drink. Opportunely some travellers
came by and hearing the boy's shouts let him out of the bag.
The boy filled the bag with stones and tied it up as before
and made the best of his way home. The old Rakshasi went
off with the heavy bag and when she got to her abode told
her daughter with whom she lived that she had captured a
fine dinner but when the daughter opened the bag she found
in it nothing but stones: at this she was very angry and abused
her mother: then the old woman said that the boy had escaped
on the road : so the next day she went back to the place where
the boy was tending cattle and by the same trick she caught
him and put him in her bag and this time went straight home.
She made him over to her daughter and went out to collect
fire wood with which to cook him. The boy being left alone
with the daughter began to ask how he was to be killed; she
said that his head was to be pounded in a Dhenki. He pre-
tended not to understand and asked how that was to be done-
The girl not understanding such stupidity put her head under
the striker of the Dhenki to show him what would happen.
Then the boy at once pounded her head in the Dhenki and
killed her: he then put on her clothes and cut her body up
in pieces ready for cooking. When the old woman came back
with the fire wood she was pleased to find that her daughter,
as she thought, had got every thing ready; and the meal was
soon cooked and eaten. After the old woman had thus made
a hearty meal off the remains of her own daughter she felt
sleepy and took a nap. While she slept the boy struck her on
the head with a large stone and killed her; thus he saved his
life and took all the property of the old Rakshasi and lived
happily ever after.
30
466 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
(ro) — The origin of Sabai grass (Isch^mum Angustifolium).
Once upon a time there were six brothers who lived with
their sister. The brothers used to spend their days in the
jungle hunting while the sister minded the house and cooked
the dinner against their return.
One day while the brothers were hunting the girl went to
cut herbs to cook with the dinner: as she was doing so she
chanced to cut her finger and some drops of blood fell on
the herbs, which were put in the pot. When the brothers
came home to dinner they noticed how very sweet the food
was and asked the reason. The girl said that she was afraid
that it must be because some drops of her blood had fallen
on it. Then the brothers took counsel together and agreed
that if a few drops of her blood were so sweet, she must be
very nice to eat. So they agreed to murder her and eat her.
But the youngest brother named Lita, though he did not dare
to oppose his elders, was sorry for the decision. The next
day when the brothers came from the jungle they brought with
them a beautiful flower of seven colours and gave it to their
sister. She was delighted with it: she had never seen so beautiful
a flower before and wanted to know where it grew and whether
were others like it. They said that if she liked to come with
them they would take her to the tree on which the flowers grew
and she could pick as many as she liked. So the next morning
she gladly went with them and they took her to the tree with
the seven-coloured flowers. She climbed the tree to pick the
flowers and when she was up in the tree they shot arrows at
her to kill her ; but though they shot many arrows they could
not kill her. Then they compelled Lita to shoot and he with
his first arrow killed his sister.
Then they cut up the body of the girl ready for cooking
and sent Lita to a well to fetch water in which to cook the
flesh. Lita went to the well and overcome with sorrow sat
down and wept. As he wept a large frog came to the surface
of the water and asked him what was the matter; he said that
he had been made to kill his sister and that now they were
going to cook her flesh. The frog told him to be comforted
and gave him a large rohu fish. Lita took this back and When
his brothers told him to cook the food, he hid the pieces of
his sister's body and cooked the rohu fish. The brothers ate
this thinking that it was their sister. Then they went on into
the jungle hunting. After going a short way Lita said that he
APPENDIX 467
had forgotten to recover his arrow and that he must go back
and fetch it. He went back to the place, and taking his sister's
body buried it and building a hut near, spent the days in
weeping over the grave. After he had spent some time thus
the girl appeared alive out of the ground. Lita was overjoyed
and he and his sister remained happily in the jungle.
One day a Raja hunting in the jungle passed that way and
seeing the girl at once fell in love with her and took her away
and married her. Lita he also took with him and made him
ruler of half the kingdom.
In honour of his marriage the Raja resolved to construct an
enormous tank: and people came from far and near to work
at it. Among others came Lita's five elder brothers, who had
fallen into great poverty, owing to their wickedness. When
their sister saw them she forgave them and sending for them
bestowed on them food and clothing. But they were so ashamed
and repentent that they could only kneel on the ground and
beat the earth with their hands. As they continued to do so
the earth opened and swallowed them up : only their hair stuck
out of the ground and that became sabai grass, and this was
the origin of all the sabai grass which exists.
(11)— The Faithless Sister.
Once upon a time there was a man who had a son and
daughter: he used to cultivate his land and his son and daughter
used to take his dinner to him. One day the man went to
plough and while ploughing he stuck the spear which he had
ijrought with him into the ground. As the man ploughed a
tiger came and waited an opportunity to spring upon the man :
but from whichever side the tiger approached, the spear which
was stuck in the ground bent its point towards the tiger and
so protected its master. Just then the boy and girl came along
with their father's dinner. The baffled tiger was hiding in
some bushes by the field. As the children went along they
saw a paddy bird on the ground. The boy of course had his
bow and bird arrows with him and he shot an arrow at the
paddy bird: he missed the bird, but it happened that the tiger
was just in the line of fire ; the arrow pierced the eye of the
tiger and killed it instantaneously. When the girl saw the tiger
lying dead she said that it was clear that their father had
enticed them there in order that the tiger might kill them when
they brought him his dinner: clearly the only way for them to
3o»
468 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
save their lives was to leave their home at once. The boy
agreed; drawing his arrow from the tiger's head and taking
the tiger's eyes with him, he went away with his sister as fast
as they could run. After going some little distance they met
in the way two tigers. The boy threw at the tiger the eyes
of the first tiger which he had brought with him. The tigers
at once fell down dead, but from the body of one proceeded,
a hare, and from the body of the other, two dogs which
peaceably followed the boy and his sister. Having escaped to
a distance they lived in the jungle happily for some time with
their three animal friends. One day the hare said that he would
like to have a spear, so the boy went with him to a blacksmith
and got a spear made. As they were returning they met in
the way a giant Rakshasa who wished to devour them, but the
hare holding the spear kept jumping in and out of the giant's
mouth with such speed that the Rakshasa was dumbfounded
and surrendered at discretion, promising to be a faithful ser-
vant to them henceforth. With the help of the Rakshasa they
had great success in hunting. The boy with the hare and the
two dogs used to beat the jungle and drive the game towards
the Rakshasa who caught it in his mouth. One day they thus
caught a monkey, whose life they spared and who joined their
band. The monkey took a large drum and caught in it a nest
01 wild bees, which he pressrved.
One day while the others were away a Raja who was hunting
in the jungle found the girl sitting alone and at once fell in
love with her and wanted to marry her. The girl said that
she was willing but that she was sure that her brother would never
consent. The only thing was to kill her brother and the Raja
could never do that as the faithful animals would protect him.
At last the girl consented to try and compass her brother's death.
To this end she became very melancholy and seemed to pine
away : her brother asked what was the matter and she said that
she would never recover unless he could fetch her a certain
flower which grew in the midst of a certain lake. Now this
lake swarmed with gigantic fish and poisonous snakes. But
the brother, never daunted, went to the lake and began to
swim out to the centre where the flower grew. Before he got
half way there one of the gigantic fish swallowed him up. The
Rakshasa however saw this and set to work to drink the lake
up: he soon drank the lake dry and not only caught the big
fish but also was able to gather the flower that had grown in
the lake. They then cut open the fish and took the boy
APPENDIX 469
unharmed from its belly. The Rakshasa then vomited up the
water he had swallowed and filled up the lake again. Mean-
while the Raja thinking that the boy had died, carried off his
sister. But the boy setting out with the hare and the dogs
and the Rakshasa and the monkey proceeded to attack the
Raja's capital and recover his sister. The monkey opened his
drum and the bees issued forth and attacked the Raja's army
so that it fled. The Raja had to capitulate and give the boy
half his kingdom and his own daughter in marriage, then peace
was declared and the animals all disappeared into the jungle
and our hero lived happily ever after.
(12)— The Cruel Sisters-in-law.
Once upon a time there lived six brothers who had one sister
The brothers were all married and their wives hated their
sister-in-law. It happened that the brothers all went away to
trade in a far country and her sisters-in-law took the opportunity
to illtreat the girl. They said " If you do not obey us and do
what we tell you we will kill you." The girl said that she
would obey their behests to the best of her ability. They said
"Then go to the well and bring this earthen pot back full of
water." The khalsi had a large hole in the bottom so that as
fast as it was filled the water ran out. The girl took the pot
to the well and sitting down began to weep over her fate. As
she wept a large frog rose out of the water and asked her
what was the matter She said' "My last hour has come. If
I cannot fill this pot with water I shall be killed and it has a
hole in the bottom." The frog said, "Be comforted, I will
cure that: I will sit on the hole and stop it up with my body
and you will be able to fill it." This it did and the girl took
the water back to the house. The sisters-in-law were very angry
but could say nothing so they set her another task. They told
her to go the jungle and bring home a full bundle of sticks:
but she was not to take any rope with which to tie them. The
girl collected a large quantity of sticks and then sat down and
cried because she was unable to carry them home: as she cried
a large snake came up and asked what was the matter. The
girl told him, whereupon the snake said that he would curl
himself round the sticks and serve as a rope. This he did and
the girl was able to carry the sticks home on her head. Defeated
in this attempt the sisters-in-law the next day told the girl to
go to a field of pulse which had been sown the day before
470 F0LKL0RE:0F THE KOLHAN
and bring back all the grain by the evening. The girl went to
the field and picked up a few grains but it had been sown
broadcast and the girl soon saw that the task was hopeless:
she sat down and cried and as she cried a flock of pigeons
flew to her and asked her what was the matter: she said that
she could not pick up all the grain in the field. They said
that that was easily managed, and the pigeons spreading over
the field soon picked up all the grain and put it into the girl's
basket, so that by evening she returned with the basket full.
The sisters-in-law were more than ever enraged. They gave
her a pot and told her that she must go to the jungle and
bring it back full of bear's milk. The girl went to the jungle
and being very frightened sat down and began to cry: a large
she bear came by and asked what was the matter. The girl
explained and the she bear, sorry for her distress willingly
allowed herself to be milked without doing the girl any harm.
The sisters-in-law then resolved to make a more direct attempt
on the girl's hfe. They took her into the jungle and told her
to climb a certain tree and pick them the fruit. The tree had
a tall smooth trunk and the girl had to climb the tree by
driving pegs into the trunk. When she reached the branches
the sisters-in-law pulled the pegs outof the tree and went home
leaving the girl to starve. Night came on and the girl stayed
in the tree: it so happened that that day the six brothers were
returning home and being benighted stopped to sleep under
that very tree. The girl thought that they were dacoits and
stayed still. She could not help crying in her despair and a
warm tear fell on the face of one the brothers sleeping below
and woke him up. He looked, up and recognized his sister.
The brothers soon rescued her and when they heard of the
cruelty of their wives they went home and put them all to death.
(13)— The False Ran!
Once upon a time a Raja who had just married was returning
with his bride to his kingdom. It was hot weather and a long
journey and as they passed through a jungle the Raja and all
his men went down to a stream to drink leaving the bride sitting
in her palki. As the bride thus sat all alone she was frightened
at seeing a she-bear come up. The bear asked the bride who
she was and where she was going. When she heard, she
thought that she would like to share so agreeable a fate, so by
threats she made the Rani get out of her paiki and give he"^
APPENDIX 471
all her fine clothes and jewellery and go away into the jungle.
The bear dressing herself in the Rani's clothes, got into the
palki, and when the men came back they took up the palki
and went on their way without noticing any change, nor did
the Raja detect the fraud: he took the bear to his palace and
installed her as his wife. Meanwhile the real bride had picked
up the walking stick of the Raja and a cloth which he had left
on the road when he went to the stream, and ran into the
jilngle. She made her way to the house of a Ghasi woman
who lived by the Raja's palace with her daughters. The
daughters earned a living by selling flowers and one day one
daughter, as she sold the Raja a garland, told him that his
real bride was living in their house. The Raja was very
distressed and at once went to see his bride and was satisfied
of her identity when she produced his stick and cloth. The
real Rani refused to go to his palace until the she bear had
been put to death. Thereupon the Raja gave instructions to
his followers and sent word to the palace that he was dead.
The officers and servants at the palace then prepared a big
pit and lit a large fire in it; they then sent for the she bear
and told her that she must perform the funeral ceremonies of
her husband. They made her take off her fine clothes and
told her to kneel down by the burning pit and make salaam
to it. As she was doing so they pushed her into the pit and
she was burned to death. Then the Raja brought home his
real bride in triumph. But from that time bears attack men
when they get the chance.
(14)— The Jackal and the Kite.
Once upon a time a jackal and a kite agreed to join forces
and get their food together. In pursuance of their plan they
sent word to a prosperous village that a Raja with his army
was marching that way and intended the next day to loot the
village. The next morning the jackal took an empty kah% and
marched towards the village drumming on the kalsi with all
his might, and the kite flew along overhead screaming as loud
as he could. The villagers thought that the Raja's army was
approaching and fled into the jungle. The jackal and the kite
began to feast on all the good things that had been left in the
houses. There was however one old woman who was too
infirm to run away with the other inhabitants: and had hid
herself inside her house. When she saw that no army came
472 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
but only a jackal and a kite she crawded away into the jungle
and told her friends. They came back, and surrouding the
village, caught the jackal: they" began to beat the jackal with
sticks to kill it: the jackal uttered no sound and pretended
that it did not mind being beaten: after a time it began to
jeer at its captors and told them that they could never kill it
by beating. The asked how it could be killed and it said by
burning. So they tied a bunch of old cloths on to its tail and
poured oil over them and set them on fire: the jackal ran off
with the burning bundle at the end of its tail and jumping on
to the nearest house set fire to the thatch: the fire spread and
the whole village was burnt down. The jackal then ran to a
tank and jumping into the water extinguished its blazing tail.
But if you look you will see that all jackals have a burnt tip
to their tail to this day.
(15)— The Sons of the Raban Raja.
The was a Raja who used to bathe daily at a certain tank.
In the tank was a great fish: as the Raja washed his mouth
this fish used daily to swallow the rinsings of his mouth. In
consequence of this the fish after a time gave birth to two
human children. As the two boys grew up they used to go
into the village near the tank and play with the other children.
One day however, a man beat them and drove them away
from the other children jeering at them because they had no
father. Much disturbed at this they went to the fish and asked
whether it was true that they had no father. The fish told
them that their father was the Raban Raja. The two boys
resolved to go in search of the Raban Raja: they set out and
after a time met a man and asked him if he knew the Raban
Raja. The man asked why they wished to know. They said
that they were his sons. Then the man at once killed them
because the Raban Raja was an enemy of his country. From
the place where the bodies of the dead boys lay, two large
bamboos grew up. When the bamboos had grown very big,
a Jogi came by that way and cut them down, making from
them two flutes. These flutes produced such beautiful music
that every one was charmed and the fame of the Jogi spread
far and wide: so when in his wanderings the Jogi reached the
kingdom of the Raban Raja the Raja sent for him and the
Jogi came to the palace with his two bamboo flutes. When
the flutes were brought into the presence of the Raja they burst
APPENDIX 473
open and from them appeared the two boys. When the Raja
heard their history he recognized them as his sons, and sent
the Jogi away with large rewards.
(i6)— The Potter's Son.
Once upon a time there was a Kumhar whose wife was about
to have a child. As they were very poor the pair resolved
that if the child should prove to be a boy they would abandon
it, but it it were a 'girl they would bring it up. When the
child was born it was found to be a son, so the Kumhar took
it into the jungle and left it there. There it was found by a
tiger and tigress whose cubs had just died and who determined
to bring up the man child as their own. They accordingly fed
it and looked after it; the boy grew up strong and healthy.
When he got big, the tiger went to a blacksmith and had made
for him a bow and arrows of iron with which he used to hunt.
When the boy became a young man the tiger decided that
his marriage must be arranged for. So he went to the capital
of a neighbouring Raja, and when the Raja's daughter came
to a tank to bathe, the tiger seized her and carried her off
into the jungle, where she was married to the Kumhar's son.
The princess was very pleased with her new husband, but
found the life with the tigers in the jungle very irksome. She
constantly begged her husband to run away, until at last he
agreed. One day when the tigers were at a distance they
started off and soon arrived at the palace of the princess' father.
Leaving her husband by the palace tank, the princess went
ahead to see how matters stood and to prepare a welcome for
her husband. He being left alone decided to bathe in the
tank. Now a dhoba was there washing the palace clothes, and
seeing a stranger he concluded that it was a thief come to
steal the clothes. He accordingly killed him and then in fear
threw the body into the water. When the princess returned
she was distressed to find no sign of her husband but his iron
bow and arrows. Search was made everywhere and the tank
was netted but no trace could be discovered of her missing
spouse.
Shortly afterwards a Ghasi girl came to catch chingris in the
tank, and while doing so suddenly laid hold of a large fish.
In great delight she took it home. When she came to cut it
up she found inside the belly of the fish a living child. Pleased
with its appearance she decided to adopt it. She put it in a
m FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
basket, and tying the basket under her clolh pretended to be
pregnant, and shortly afterwards announced that she had given
birth to a child. The boy grew with marvellous rapidity.
Meanwhile the father of the widowed princess insisted that
she should marry again. But she was faithful to the memory
of her husband an J declared that she would only marry the
man who could draw the iron bow. Many suitors came but
they all failed to draw the bow. At length the reputed son of
the Ghasi woman came and pulling the bow with ease announced
himself as the true husband of the princess with whom he lived
happily ever after.
(17)— The Wonderful Cowherd.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven daughters.
The seven princesses used to bathe daily in a tank and when
they bathed they used to put the scrapings from their bodies
in a hole in the ground. From this hole there grew a tree,
and the eldest princess announced that she would marry the
man who could tell her what had caused the tree to grow;
many suitors came and made guesses but none divined thfe
truth; her father was anxious that she should be married, and
insisted on every one in the kingdom being questioned. At
last a miserable, poverty stricken and sickly cowherd was asked;
he had always grazed his cattle on the banks of the tank and
had often seen the princesses bathing so he knew from what
the tree had spring. The princess being bound by her oath
had to marry the miserable cowherd and go and live with him
in his hut.
All day long the cowherd used to be groaning in sickness
and misery; but at night he used to come out of his skin and
appear as a beautiful and shining man; in this form he used
to go and play and dance in the moonlight in the court yard
of the Raja's palace. One n'ght the princess's maid-servant
saw her master return and creep into his ugly skin; she told
her mistress who resolved to keep watch the next night; when
she saw her husband assume his shining form and go out of
the house leaving his ugly skin lying on the ground, she took
the skin and burnt it in the fire. Immediately her husband
eame rushing back declaring that he was suffering the agonies
of burning; but the skin was burnt and the former cowherd
retained his glorious and shining appearance; and on the
APPENDIX 475
application of oil the pain of the burning ceased. The princess
then began to live with pleasure in the company of so glorious
a husband, who however only went out of the house at night
as his body was too bright for ordinary eyes to look upon.
It began however to be whispered about among the neighbours
that a shining being was to be seen at the princess's house and
the rumour eventually reached the ears of the Raja. The Raja
sent a messenger to see who the being was, but when the
messenger saw the shining man he was blinded and driven out
of his senses and returned to the Raja in a state of madness.
Two or three other messengers successively met the same fate.
At length the Raja resolved to go himself; when he saw the
shining form of his son-in-law he fell down in a faint; the
princess's husband ran and lifted up the Raja in his arms and
revived him. After this the former cowherd became only
bearably bright, and being recognized as the heir to the kingdom
went to live with his wife in the Raja palace.
(i8)— The Strong Prince.
There was once a king who, though he had two wives, had
no son. He was very anxious to have a son and heir and went
away into the midst of the hills and jungles and there began
a course of worship and sacrifices. His prayers were heard
and while he was away it was found that both his wives were
pregnant. In due time the senior Rani gave birth to a son
and sent a Brahman to the king with the welcome news. The
Brahman was a very holy man and he had to pray and bathe
so often that he made very slow progress on his journey. A
day or two later the younger Rani also gave birth to a son
and she sent a low caste Ghasi to give the news to the Raja.
The Ghasi travelled straight ahead and reached the Raja some
time before the holy Brahman. On hearing the news that the
younger Rani had given birth to a son the Raja had at once
declared that this boy should be his heir. He was therefore
much put out when the Brahman arrived with the news that
the senior Ram had given birth to a son first.
The Raja returned home and entering the palace saw the
senior Rani sleeping with her babe beside her. The boy had
sore eyes and the Raja, declaring that the child bore no re-
semblance to himself said that it was not his son and that the
Rani had been unfaithful to him.
476 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
The Rani indignantly denied the accusation and said that if
the two brothers fought her son would prove his parentage.
Accordingly the two boys were set to wrestle with each other.
The struggle was an even one. As they swayed to and fro it
happened that the elder boy caught hold of the Raja and pulled
him to the ground. This incensed the Raja more than ever
and he ordered the senior Rani to leave the kingdom with her
child. On the read by which they had to pass the Raja stationed
a mast elephant in order that they might be killed, but when
in du e course the elephant attacked them the boy caught hold
of it and threw it to a distance of four kos. After this feat the
prince and his mother journeyed to another kingdom. There
they took up their quarters near the ground where the Raja's
palwans wrestled. The prince went to wrestle with them and
easily overcame the most renowned palwans. In many ways
he showed his strength. One day he went to a mahajan's shop
and the Mahajan instead of serving him promptly kept him waiting.
In indignation the boy took up the entire building and threw it
to a distance ; hearing of these feats the Raja of the country
sent for him and took him into his service; but here also he
caused trouble. He insisted on being treated with deference.
Going up to the highest officials he would tell them not to twist
their moustaches at; him, and knock them down. On the throne
in the palace when the Raja was absent a pair of the Raja's
shoes was placed and every one who passed by had to salaam
to these. This our hero flatly refused to do. In fact he became
such a nuisance that he was promised that he would be given
his pay regularly if he would only stay away from the palace.
After this ht spent his days in idleness and by night he used
to go to the shore and disport himself in the sea.
One night the godess Kali came to the Raja's palace and
knocked at the gate: but no one would come to open it. Just
then the prince came back from bathing in the sea. Seeing
him, Kali Ma, said that she was so hungry that she must eat
him, though she had intended to eat the people in the palace.
She, however, promised him that though eaten he should be
bom again. The boy agreed to form a meal for the goddess
on these terms and v/as accordingly eaten. Afterwards gaining
admission to the palace Kali Ma ate up everyone in it except
the Raja's daughter. Then our hero was born again and
marrying the Raja's daughter succeeded to the kingdom, and
lived happily ever after.
APPENDIX 477
(ig)~THE Prince who became King of the Jackals.
Once upon a time there lived a Raja whose son formed a
great friendship with a barber. For some reason the Raja
quarrelled with his son and ordered him to leave the kingdom.
Accordingly the prince departed to a far country in company
with his friend, the barber. In order to earn a living the barber
opened a school and the prince took service with a mahajan.
They were in such straits that the prince had to submit to very
hard terms, it was arranged that his wages were to be one
leaf plate full of rice a day: and that if he threw up the service
he was to lose a piece of his skin a span long. After a short
time the prince who had been brought up in luxury found the
v/ork so hard and the food so scanty that he resolved to leave
the mahajan: but before he went he had to submil to a piece
of skin beiu? cut off, in terms of the agreement. The prince
then went to the barber and told him how ill he had fared-
The barber vowed that he should be avenged. So he went
and offered himself as a servant to the mahajan : he was engaged
and it was agreed that whichever party first proposed to ter.
minate the contract should lose a piece of skin a span long.
The barber worked so badly and ate so much that one day
the mahajan in a fit of rage ordered him to leave the place
and in consequence forfeited a piece of his skin.
Having repaid the mahajan in his own coin the prince and
the barber left those parts ahd journeyed to the land of the
king of the jackals. They found the king of the jackals asleep
in front of his cave. W hile he still slept the barber shaved all
the hair off his tail. Then the two friends hid in the cave,
drawing a cart in front of the entrance. When the jackal
awoke and found that he had been shaved he concluded that
there were bongas (spirits) about, and ran away in terror. After
going a short distance he met a bear who asked where he was
going in such a hurry. The king of the jackals said that some
bongas had taken possession ot his cave and shaved off his
hair. The bear agreed to go back with the jackal and see if
he could exorcise the spirits. Going to the cave the bear
climbed on to the cart to offer a sacrifice. As he sat there
the barber caught hold of his tail and held on to it while the
prince began to stab the bear with a knife. The bear howled
and groaned but could not get away. The king of the jackals
who was looking on was delighted, for he concluded that the
bongas had taken possession of the bear who would learn who
478 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
they were and how they were to be exorcised. At last the
bear broke free and ran away: the jackal ran after him and
asked him what the bongas had told him: but the bear only
said 'ugh' 'ugh' and ran into the jungle. Then the jackal
met a tiger and telling his story persuaded the tiger also to try
his hand at exorcising the spirits. The tiger was treated in
the same way as the bear had been and ran off without giving
the jackal any information.
Then the king of the jackals resolved to try himself and
mounted on to the cart. But the barber stabbed him through
the bamboos and killed him. Then the prince succeeded to
the kingdom of the jackals, and not only so, but replaced the
piece of skin which he had forfeited to the mahajan by a piece
of the skin of the dead jackal.
(20)— The Mongoose Boy.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven wives
but no children. In hope of issue he retired to the jungle and
began a course of prayers and sacrifices. While he was so
engaged a Brahman came to him and told him to take a stick
and with it knock down seven mangoes from a neighbouring
tree, and catch them before they reached the ground: he
promised that if the Ranis ate these mangoes they would bear
children. The Raja did as he was directed and took the
mangoes home and gave one to each of his wives.
The youngest Ram happened at the time to be sweeping
out a room and so she put her mango in a niche in the wall.
Just then a neighbour sent a mongoose, who was her servant,
to ask for a light. While the Rani was fetching a firebrand
from the hearth the mongoose saw the mango and climbing
up nibbled part of it without being seen. After this the Rani
ate the mango. In due time the seven Ranis each gave birth
to a son: but the son of the youngest Rani was the most
beautiful with a face like a mongoose. The eldest Rani was
jealous of the beauty of the youngest Rani's son so one day she
sent the youngest Rani to fetch some water: and during her
absence took up the mongoose boy and putting a stone and a
broom in its place took the child away and buried it in the pit
from which the potters dig their earth. When the Raja heard
that his youngest wife had given birth to nothing but a stone
and a broom he was very angry and turned her out of the palace.
Meanwhile a potter had found the mongoose boy still alive >
APPENDIX 479
and had taken him to his home. There the child grew up and
became a strong boy. One day he asked the potter to make
him an earthen-ware horse. On this horse he used to ride
about, for directly he mounted it, it was endowed with life.
One day the mongoose boy took his earthenware horse to
water it at a tank near the palace and there his six brothers
saw it and insisted that they also should have earthenware
horses to ride. Horses were accordingly made for them but
when they mounted, the horses would not budge an inch.
Enraged at this the princes complained to their mothers. The
Ranis at once suspected the identity of the potter's boy and
told their sons to kill him.
So one day when the young princes met him at the tank
they killed the mongoose boy and buried his body. At the
place where the body was buried there grew up a bamboo of
extraordinary size and a bush with sweet and beautiful flowers :
many people tried to cut down the big bamboo and to pluck
the beautiful flowers but every arm that was raised to do so
was restrained by some unseen power. Eventually the news
of this portent reached the ears of the Raja who went to see
what was happening. When the Raja trid to pluck a flower
he succeeded at the first attempt. The Raja then cut down
the bamboo and out of it stepped the mongoose boy who told
of the illtreatment which he had received at the hands of the
six Ranis and their sons. The Raja wished him to come to
the palace but he insisted that his mother should first be sent
for. This was at once done.
Then the Raja had a wide and deep well dug and announced
that a Puja was to be performed at the opening of the well.
To the ceremony came the six Ranis and their sons. As they
all knelt at the edge of the well doing puja the Raja had them
pushed into it, so that they were all drowned. Thus the wicked
were punished and the mongoose boy eventually succeeded to
his father's kingdom.
(21)— The Prince and the Tigress.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven sons. One
day a tigress came to the palace and asked the Raja to allow
one of his sons to be her servant and look after her cattle.
The Raja consented and ordered his eldest son to go with the
tigress. The young man took his axe and bow and arrows
and went with the tigress to her cave. When he got there he
48o FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
asked where were the cattle which he was to tend. The tigress
pointed out to him all the bears which were roaming in the
jungle and said that they were her cattle. By the cave stood
a large rock and the tigress told the prince to take his axe and
cut it in two. The prince tried, but the rock only turned the
edge of his axe and he quite failed to cut it. The tigress being
thus satisfied that the prince had no superhuman powers sprang
upon him and killed him and devoured his body. Then she
went back to the Raja and said that she had too much work
to be done, that she wished him to give her a second son.
The Raja agreed, but this prince met the same fate as the first;
and in succession, all the sons of the Raja, except the youngest,
went with the tigress and were devoured by her. At last the
youngest son went with the tigress: when bidden to cut the
rock in two, he easily accomplished the task. Then the tigress
knew that she had met her master and ran into her cave.
Looking into the cave, the prince saw ihe bones of his dead
brothers. Gathering the bones together, he prayed for fire to
burn them, and fire fell from above and burned the bones.
Then he climbed a tree in order to be out of the reach of
the tigress, and the tigress came and sat at the foot of the tree
so that he could not descend. Then he prayed again and
wind arose and wafted him away and set him down by a house
where lived an old man and his wife. The tigress followed in
pursuit, but the aged couple hid the prince and assured the
tigress that he had not been seen; so the tigress returned dis-
appointed. The prince stayed with the old people and worked
on their land. One day as he was ploughing, the tigress came
and killed one of the bullocks that were drawing the plough.
The prince at once ran to the house to fetch his bow and
arrow that he might kill the tigress. When he returned, he
found that several tigers were sucking the bloodof the bullock
and with them a wild boar. He shot an arrow which wounded
the boar. The boar maddened by the pain turned on the tigers
and killed them all ; including the tigress which had killed the
Raja's sons.
The prince then being no longer in danger from the tigress
returned to his farther's palace.
(22)— The Cunning Potter.
Once upon a time there lived at the gate of a Raja's palace
a Potter who had a pretty wife. The Raja fell in love with
APPENDIX 481
the Potter's wife and schemed to get rid of the husband. He
could not bring himself to commit a cold blooded murder,
but he tried to accomplish his object indirectly by setting the
Potter impossible tasks which he was to accomplish on pain
of death. The Raja accordingly sent for the Potter and ordered
him to bring him the heads of twenty-four jackals.
The Potter went away to the jungle and began to dig a large
hole in the side of a hill. A jackal presently came by and
stopped to ask why he was digging the hole. The Potter said
that it was going to rain fire from heaven, and that every one
who had not such a shelter would be burnt. At this the jackal
became very frightened ; the Potter thereupon said that he was
so sorry for them that he would allow the jackal and his friends
to share the hole which he was digging. The jackal gratefully
ran away and returned vnih a number of other jackals. They
all went into the hole and the Potter closed the entrance.
After a time the Potter looked out and said that the fire was
over ; he then stationed himself at the mouth of the hole and
as the jackals came out he cut off their heads with a knife ;
in this away he beheaded twenty-three jackals; but the last
jackal saw what was happening and dodged the knife and
escaped. The Potter took the twenty-three heads to the Raja;
but the Raja pretended to be angry and said that if the Potter
did not at once procure a twenty-fourth head, he would be
beheaded himself. The Potter took a pot of ^r and went to
a pool of water which lay in the direction in which the twenty-
fourth jackal had fled. Smearing his body all over with ^r,
he lay down by the water and pretended to be dead. Presently
the jackal which had escaped passed that way with a friend-
Seeing the body the second jackal proposed at once to go and
eat it; but the first jackal warned the other that there was
probably some plot and related how twenty-three of his friends
had lost their lives at the hands of this very Potter. But the
second jackal would not listen to advice and going to the
supposed corpse smelt it and then began to lick it; finding the
taste of the gur very pleasant it set to work to lick the body
all over beginning at the feet; it licked the feet and then the
legs, when it reached his waist it was within reach of his hand
and the Potter stabbed it with his knife and took the head to
the Raja.
Foiled in this design, the Raja next ordered the Potter to
bring him a jar of tiger's milk. Taking some loaves of bread,
the Potter went into the jungle and soon found a cave in which
482 FOLKLORE OF THE KOLHAN
was a pair of tiger cubs whose parents were away hunting.
The Potter told the cubs that he was their uncle and gave
them the bread to eat ; they liked the taste of the bread very
much. Then the Potter hid himself in a tree near the cave.
Presently the tigress came back but her cubs refused to suck
her milk as usual, the tigress asked the reason of this and the
cubs said that their uncle had come and fed them with
something nicer than milk and they were no longer hungry.
They then pointed out the Potter in the tree and the tigresg
wanted to know what he had given her cubs to eat. He told
her that it was bread: the tigress said that she would like to
try some herself, whereupon the potter replied that he would
give her some if she would first give him some of her milk.
The tigress agreed and also consented that her legs should be
tied while she was being milked in order that she might not
be able to harm the potter. The tigress having been milked,
the Potter gave her a loaf of bread and then ran away as fast
as he could.
Finding that he would not be able to get rid of the Potter
by any such devices, the Raja then persuaded the faithless
wife to put the Potter to death. She accordingly set up an
idol in her house and prayed daily to this that her husband
might become blind and die. One day the Potter overheard
her prayers: the next day he hid behind the idol and when
the woman came and prayed he answered from behind the idol
that her prayer was granted and that in two days her husband
would become blind. Accordingly, two days later the Potter
pretended to become blind. Then the woman sent word to
the Raja that her husband was blind and that they had nothing
to fear from him. The Raja accordingly came one night to
visit the woman, and the Potter killed them both with an axe.
He buried the body of his wife, but he was in great trouble
as to how to dispose of the body of the Raja: for he knew
that there would be a hue and cry when the disappearance of
the Raja was discovered. At last he decided to put the body
in a field of brinjals belonging to a neighbour. Towards morn-
ing, the owner of the field came to see that his property was
all right, and seeing some one among the brinjals, thought that
it was a thief. He accordingly hit the supposed thief on the
head; and when he came to examine the body, he was shocked
to find that he had, as he thought, killed the Raja. In great
distress he went to consult his friend, the Potter; the Potter
advised him to put the body among the buffaloes belonging to
APPENDIX 483
a Goals. At dawn the Goala came to look at his buffaloes
and seeing the body of the Raja thought that it was a thief
stealing the milk of the buffaloes : catching up a club, he in-
flicted a blow which caused the body to fall over. When the
Goala, found that the body was that of the Raja and that he
had apparently killed him, he was in great fear and went to
his friend, the Potter, for advice. It was finally decided to
dispose of the body by putting it down a well. The next day
great search was made for the missing Raja and the body was
found in the well by a Brahman. Preparations were made for
the obsequies and a funeral pyre erected. The Potter saw his
opportunity and digging a hole in the ground under the pyre
hid himself in it. When the body had been cremated and the
mourners were still collected at the spot, the Potter began to
speak from the hole in which he was concealed : the bystanders
thought that they heard the voice of the Raja declaring that
the Potter had always been his true friend and that he desired
that he should be given half the kingdom and the hand of his
daughter in marriage. The supposed wishes of the late Raja
were obeyed and the Potter lived in luxury for the rest of his life.
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